Cynosure Group LLC Buys 213 Shares of Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS

Cynosure Group LLC lifted its position in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,049 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Dillard’s were worth $856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Dillard’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Dillard’s by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Dillard’s by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Dillard’s by 13.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 279 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Dillard’s by 62.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 99 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 67.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DDS. Zacks Research cut Dillard’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Dillard’s from $175.00 to $184.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Dillard’s from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dillard’s in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Dillard’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dillard’s presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $397.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J C. Watts, Jr. sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.60, for a total transaction of $445,950.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,094,650. This trade represents a 6.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 34.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Dillard’s Stock Performance

DDS opened at $609.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $606.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $509.31. The company has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.15. Dillard’s, Inc. has a 1 year low of $282.24 and a 1 year high of $737.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.41.

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported $8.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.43 by $1.88. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Dillard’s had a return on equity of 30.55% and a net margin of 8.87%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.73 EPS. Research analysts expect that Dillard’s, Inc. will post 33.25 EPS for the current year.

Dillard’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s’s payout ratio is currently 3.26%.

Dillard’s Company Profile

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.