Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Stake in Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) by 10.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,272 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.05% of Dillard’s worth $3,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DDS. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Dillard’s in the first quarter worth approximately $266,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Dillard’s by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Dillard’s by 47,109.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,720,000 after buying an additional 10,364 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Dillard’s during the 4th quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Dillard’s during the 1st quarter worth about $1,318,000. Institutional investors own 67.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DDS shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Dillard’s from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Dillard’s from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Dillard’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Dillard’s from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and an average price target of $394.33.

Dillard’s Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:DDS opened at $602.88 on Monday. Dillard’s, Inc. has a 52-week low of $282.24 and a 52-week high of $610.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $515.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.73.

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.87. Dillard’s had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 30.55%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Dillard’s, Inc. will post 33.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dillard’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Dillard’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.76%.

About Dillard’s

Dillard’s, Inc engages in the retail of fashion apparel, cosmetics, and home furnishings, and other consumer goods. It operates through the Retail Operations and Construction segments. The Retail Operations segment comprises sells cosmetics, ladies’ apparel, ladies’ accessories and lingerie, juniors’ and children’s apparel, men’s apparel and accessories, shoes, and home and furniture products.