Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $326.23, but opened at $281.00. Burlington Stores shares last traded at $302.62, with a volume of 758,219 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BURL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Burlington Stores in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Burlington Stores from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Burlington Stores from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Burlington Stores from $365.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Burlington Stores from $365.00 to $411.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.47.

Burlington Stores Trading Down 7.7%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $319.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $301.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.48.

Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.24. Burlington Stores had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 41.37%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Burlington Stores, Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Burlington Stores

In related news, COO Travis Marquette sold 3,759 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.75, for a total transaction of $1,232,012.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 26,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,636,212.50. This represents a 12.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Burlington Stores

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Burlington Stores by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,782,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,726,070,000 after purchasing an additional 232,358 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Burlington Stores by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,828,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,122,000 after purchasing an additional 386,615 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Burlington Stores by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,184,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,872,000 after purchasing an additional 26,529 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Burlington Stores by 303,059.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,912,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in Burlington Stores by 103.5% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,285,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,269,000 after purchasing an additional 653,718 shares in the last quarter.

About Burlington Stores

Burlington Stores, Inc is an American off-price retailer that sells apparel and home goods at discounted prices. The company’s merchandise assortment includes clothing for women, men and children, plus baby products, footwear, accessories, beauty items, toys and home décor. Burlington’s merchandising strategy focuses on offering branded and private-label goods at lower prices than traditional department stores by sourcing excess inventory, closeouts and opportunistic buys from manufacturers and other retailers.

The business traces its roots to the Burlington Coat Factory name established in the early 1970s and has since evolved into a broader off-price retailer that carries a wide range of seasonal and everyday merchandise.