J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) Stock: Insider Mark Webb Sells 5,000 Shares

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) EVP Mark Webb sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 113,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,783,583.96. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

J.Jill Stock Performance

NYSE:JILL opened at $22.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.35. J.Jill, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.40 and a 1 year high of $25.14. The company has a market capitalization of $339.18 million, a P/E ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.80.

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 return on equity of 28.51% and a net margin of 4.62%. The firm had revenue of $154.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.26 million. On average, analysts expect that J.Jill, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

J.Jill Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of J.Jill from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of J.Jill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (up from $16.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J.Jill

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JILL. Fund 1 Investments LLC lifted its holdings in J.Jill by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 1,328,949 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $21,090,000 after purchasing an additional 653,645 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in J.Jill by 12.7% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, 1492 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in J.Jill during the 1st quarter valued at about $258,000. 40.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on women’s apparel, footwear and accessories. The company offers relaxed, versatile clothing designed primarily for women age 40 and older, with product categories that include dresses, tops, sweaters, pants, jackets, intimates and accessories.

J.Jill serves customers through a multichannel model that includes its retail stores, e-commerce website and direct-mail catalogs. Its merchandise is marketed under the J.Jill brand and is available primarily in the United States, with the company emphasizing comfort, fit and coordinated wardrobe collections.

The company traces its roots to 1959, when it began as a catalog retailer.