13,864 Shares in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) Bought by Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,864 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,675,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TJX. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of TJX Companies by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,228,840 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock valued at $148,456,000 after purchasing an additional 13,036 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in TJX Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $433,000. BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in TJX Companies by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 81,079 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock worth $9,795,000 after buying an additional 2,201 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of TJX Companies by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,186 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock worth $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 3,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH purchased a new position in shares of TJX Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $604,000. 91.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on TJX Companies from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised TJX Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of TJX Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on TJX Companies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, TJX Companies presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.06.

Insider Transactions at TJX Companies

In other news, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total value of $988,240.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $2,882,346.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 484,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,569,772.67. This trade represents a 4.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

TJX Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

TJX traded up $1.60 on Friday, reaching $129.23. 4,720,713 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,353,675. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.38 and a 52-week high of $131.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $144.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $122.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.90.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $16.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.24 billion. TJX Companies had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 61.82%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a boost from TJX Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. TJX Companies's payout ratio is presently 39.91%.

TJX Companies Company Profile

The TJX Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Marmaxx, HomeGoods, TJX Canada, and TJX International. The company sells family apparel, including footwear and accessories; home fashions, such as home basics, furniture, rugs, lighting products, giftware, soft home products, decorative accessories, tabletop, and cookware, as well as expanded pet, and gourmet food departments; jewelry and accessories; and other merchandise.