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

J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.50.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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. Weiss Ratings raised shares of J.Jill from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (up from $16.00) on shares of J.Jill in a report on Wednesday, September 9th.

J.Jill Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JILL opened at $24.62 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. J.Jill has a twelve month low of $10.40 and a twelve month high of $25.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.94. The stock has a market cap of $365.81 million, a P/E ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.80.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The specialty retailer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $154.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.26 million. J.Jill had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 28.51%. On average, research analysts forecast that J.Jill will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 23rd. J.Jill’s payout ratio is 20.11%.

Insider Activity

In other J.Jill news, EVP Mark W. Webb sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.28, for a total transaction of $582,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 121,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,341.04. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Elliot Staples sold 13,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total value of $321,545.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 60,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,534. This represents a 18.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 68,287 shares of company stock worth $1,529,280 in the last 90 days. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On J.Jill

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fund 1 Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of J.Jill by 96.8% in the 2nd 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of J.Jill by 3.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 279,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,208,000 after acquiring an additional 8,172 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Finally, 1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of J.Jill during the first quarter worth about $258,000. 40.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on women’s apparel, footwear and accessories. The company designs and sells casual, comfortable and versatile clothing intended primarily for women in their 40s and beyond, with product offerings that include tops, sweaters, dresses, pants, jackets and seasonal collections.

J.Jill serves customers through a combination of retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels, including its e-commerce website and catalogs. Its merchandise is marketed under the J.Jill brand and is designed to support a coordinated wardrobe, with an emphasis on fit, ease and everyday wear.

Founded in 1959, the company operates primarily in the United States.