J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on JILL. Zacks Research upgraded J.Jill from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on J.Jill from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings raised J.Jill from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of J.Jill in a research note on Thursday. Finally, William Blair lowered J.Jill from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, J.Jill presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.75.

J.Jill Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE JILL opened at $23.73 on Friday. J.Jill has a 12-month low of $10.40 and a 12-month high of $24.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $352.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.87.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 9th. The specialty retailer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $154.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.26 million. J.Jill had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 28.51%. On average, research analysts expect that J.Jill will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.11%.

Insider Transactions at J.Jill

In other J.Jill news, EVP Mark W. Webb sold 13,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.61, for a total transaction of $297,267.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 146,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,172,196.73. This trade represents a 8.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $625,734 in the last quarter. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of J.Jill

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fund 1 Investments LLC grew its holdings in J.Jill by 96.8% during the second quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 1,328,949 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $21,090,000 after purchasing an additional 653,645 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in J.Jill by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,303,493 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $17,884,000 after purchasing an additional 99,390 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in J.Jill by 3.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 279,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 8,172 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of J.Jill by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 47,456 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of J.Jill by 12.7% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 31,129 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. 40.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc (NYSE:JILL) is a women’s apparel retailer focused on providing clothing and accessories for women in a range of sizes. The company’s product assortment generally includes casual apparel such as tops, sweaters, dresses, pants, jackets, and outerwear, along with footwear and accessories.

J.Jill serves customers through an omnichannel retail model that combines its branded stores with e-commerce and direct-to-consumer offerings. Its products are designed around comfortable, versatile styling for everyday wear, with the company primarily targeting women seeking relaxed and contemporary apparel.

The company’s retail and digital operations serve customers across the United States.