Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,477 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dillard’s were worth $2,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its position in Dillard’s by 26,618.5% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 186,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,694,000 after purchasing an additional 185,531 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Dillard’s by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 178,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,602,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Dillard’s by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 77,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,823,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Dillard’s by 75.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,687,000 after purchasing an additional 28,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Dillard’s by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,623,000 after purchasing an additional 21,199 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Dillard’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Dillard’s from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Dillard’s from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dillard’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Dillard’s from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Dillard’s has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $394.33.

Dillard’s Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of DDS stock opened at $594.24 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $575.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $463.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 1.09. Dillard’s, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $282.24 and a fifty-two week high of $637.73.

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

Dillard’s Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.30 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s’s dividend payout ratio is 3.31%.

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.