J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Stock Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of J.Jill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of J.Jill from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (up from $16.00) on shares of J.Jill in a report on Wednesday, September 9th.

Insider Activity at J.Jill

In related news, insider Elliot Staples sold 13,287 shares of J.Jill stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total transaction of $321,545.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 60,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,534. This trade represents a 18.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark W. Webb sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.52, for a total value of $122,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 113,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,783,583.96. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,651,880. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.Jill

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of J.Jill in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in J.Jill by 843.9% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 41,834 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 37,402 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new position in J.Jill during the third quarter worth about $591,000. Fund 1 Investments LLC increased its position 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 worth $21,090,000 after acquiring an additional 653,645 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in J.Jill by 3.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.71% of the company’s stock.

J.Jill Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of JILL stock opened at $22.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.38 and its 200-day moving average is $17.43. The stock has a market cap of $331.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.86. J.Jill has a 52-week low of $10.40 and a 52-week high of $25.14.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The specialty retailer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.67. J.Jill had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 28.51%. The business had revenue of $154.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.26 million. Sell-side analysts predict that J.Jill will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.11%.

J.Jill Company Profile

J.Jill, Inc. is a women’s apparel retailer focused on comfortable, versatile clothing and accessories. Its merchandise includes apparel, footwear and accessories designed for everyday wear. The company uses an omnichannel model, selling through its retail stores, website and catalogs. J.Jill traces its roots to a New England catalog business established in 1959. J.Jill primarily serves customers in the United States through its stores and digital channels.