J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.50.

Several research firms have issued reports on JILL. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of J.Jill in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $14.00 price objective (up from $13.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded J.Jill from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $14.00 target price (up from $13.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered J.Jill from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th.

Institutional Trading of J.Jill

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in J.Jill by 12.7% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 31,129 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in J.Jill in the 1st quarter valued at $258,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in J.Jill in the 4th quarter valued at $347,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in J.Jill during the 4th quarter worth about $150,000. 40.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.Jill Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of JILL stock opened at $16.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.58 and a 200-day moving average of $14.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. J.Jill has a 12-month low of $10.40 and a 12-month high of $18.80. The company has a market capitalization of $247.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.87.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 10th. The specialty retailer reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $144.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.30 million. J.Jill had a net margin of 3.56% and a return on equity of 24.44%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that J.Jill will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 24th. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.28%.

About J.Jill

J.Jill is a women’s apparel retailer specializing in modern, versatile clothing and accessories. The company designs and markets a range of products that emphasize comfort and style, including knitwear, woven tops, pants, dresses, outerwear, jewelry, and footwear. Through its in-house design team, J.Jill focuses on creating seasonal collections that appeal to women seeking effortless, mix-and-match wardrobes.

Products are sold through a multi-channel distribution network comprising company-operated boutiques, e-commerce platforms, and catalog sales.