J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Short Interest Up 7.5% in January

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 406,500 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the December 31st total of 378,000 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 118,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other J.Jill news, CEO Claire Spofford sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.57, for a total value of $132,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 132,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,512,686.85. The trade was a 3.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark W. Webb sold 6,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total value of $192,359.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 97,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,773,745.52. The trade was a 6.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,341 shares of company stock worth $781,538 in the last quarter. 6.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.Jill

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of J.Jill by 39.3% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 422,463 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,422,000 after purchasing an additional 119,282 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of J.Jill by 502.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 77,144 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 64,335 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of J.Jill during the third quarter valued at $1,167,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of J.Jill by 28.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,762 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 31,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of J.Jill during the third quarter valued at $606,000. 40.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

J.Jill Stock Down 1.3 %

JILL stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.15. The stock had a trading volume of 9,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 81,284. The firm has a market cap of $401.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.20. J.Jill has a 52-week low of $23.41 and a 52-week high of $40.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The specialty retailer reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.09. J.Jill had a return on equity of 71.30% and a net margin of 6.80%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that J.Jill will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. J.Jill’s payout ratio is 9.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of J.Jill in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, J.Jill presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.17.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc operates as an omnichannel retailer for women's apparel under the J.Jill brand in the United States. It offers apparel, footwear, and accessories, including scarves and jewelry. The company markets its products through retail stores, website, and catalogs. J.Jill, Inc was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts.