J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.17.

Separately, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of J.Jill in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark W. Webb sold 6,740 shares of J.Jill stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was 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 directly owns 97,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,773,745.52. This trade represents a 6.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Claire Spofford sold 5,000 shares of J.Jill stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,512,686.85. This trade represents a 3.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,341 shares of company stock valued at $781,538. Company insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.Jill

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of J.Jill by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP now owns 1,592,886 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,996,000 after purchasing an additional 91,545 shares during the period. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of J.Jill by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 921,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,446,000 after purchasing an additional 285,715 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of J.Jill by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 576,031 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $15,910,000 after purchasing an additional 153,568 shares during the period. Fund 1 Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of J.Jill by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 298,429 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,243,000 after purchasing an additional 96,982 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of J.Jill by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 235,802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,511,000 after purchasing an additional 18,061 shares during the period. 40.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.Jill Trading Down 4.2 %

JILL stock opened at $23.44 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.85. J.Jill has a fifty-two week low of $23.39 and a fifty-two week high of $40.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $359.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.69. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The specialty retailer reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.09. J.Jill had a return on equity of 71.30% and a net margin of 6.80%. Analysts expect that J.Jill will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.19%. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.89%.

J.Jill Company Profile

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.