VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,309,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dillard’s by 3.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Dillard’s by 10.3% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 8,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Dillard’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,318,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Dillard’s by 617.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 9,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,310,000 after buying an additional 7,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in Dillard’s by 217.8% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 3,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.15% of the company’s stock.

Dillard’s Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE DDS opened at $606.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $578.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $464.02. The company has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74 and a beta of 1.09. Dillard’s, Inc. has a 1-year low of $282.24 and a 1-year high of $637.73.

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $4.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.87. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Dillard’s had a return on equity of 30.55% and a net margin of 8.87%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $11.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Dillard’s, Inc. will post 33.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dillard’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is an increase from Dillard’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Dillard’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J C. Watts, Jr. sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.60, for a total value of $445,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,250 shares in the company, valued at $6,094,650. The trade was a 6.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 34.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Dillard’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Dillard’s from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Dillard’s from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Dillard’s from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Dillard’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $394.33.

About Dillard’s

Dillard’s, Inc engages in the retail of fashion apparel, cosmetics, and home furnishings, and other consumer goods. It operates through the Retail Operations and Construction segments. The Retail Operations segment comprises sells cosmetics, ladies’ apparel, ladies’ accessories and lingerie, juniors’ and children’s apparel, men’s apparel and accessories, shoes, and home and furniture products.