J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Stock Has Average Price Target of $24.50 According to Brokerages

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JILL. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of J.Jill from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised J.Jill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. BTIG Research upped their price target on J.Jill from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (up from $22.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on J.Jill from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other J.Jill 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 sale, the insider directly owned 60,270 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,534. The trade was a 18.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark W. Webb sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.52, for a total value of $122,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 113,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,783,583.96. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 73,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,651,880. 4.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J.Jill

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fund 1 Investments LLC boosted 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 worth $21,090,000 after buying an additional 653,645 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of J.Jill by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 279,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after buying an additional 8,172 shares during the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 37,402 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in J.Jill during the third quarter worth approximately $591,000. 40.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

J.Jill Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE JILL opened at $22.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $332.45 million, a P/E ratio of 12.50 and a beta of 0.86. J.Jill has a 52-week low of $10.40 and a 52-week high of $25.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.30.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The specialty retailer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $151.26 million. Equities analysts forecast that J.Jill will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

J.Jill Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were given 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 yield of 1.6%. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.11%.

J.Jill Company Profile

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.