Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) by 48.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,903 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.08% of Dillard’s worth $6,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Dillard’s by 18.5% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Dillard’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $114,000. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of Dillard’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,780,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Dillard’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dillard’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $798,000. 67.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Dillard’s from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Dillard’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Dillard’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Dillard’s from $460.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dillard’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $521.33.

Dillard’s Trading Up 0.7%

Dillard’s stock opened at $548.98 on Friday. Dillard’s, Inc. has a 12 month low of $449.64 and a 12 month high of $741.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $560.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $595.05.

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported $16.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.13 by $5.91. Dillard’s had a return on equity of 31.43% and a net margin of 10.09%.The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.39 earnings per share. Dillard’s’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dillard’s, Inc. will post 35.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dillard’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J C. Watts, Jr. sold 400 shares of Dillard’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.18, for a total transaction of $243,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,150 shares in the company, valued at $6,183,177. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 34.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Dillard’s

Dillard’s, Inc (NYSE:DDS), headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a U.S.-based department store chain founded by William T. Dillard in 1938. Over more than eight decades of operation, the company has grown from a single store in Nashville, Arkansas, to a prominent retailer with a national footprint. Dillard’s equity is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DDS.

The company operates approximately 280 departmental stores across 29 states, offering a broad assortment of merchandise that includes men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and home furnishings.