American Century Companies Inc. Buys 6,682 Shares of Dillard’s, Inc. $DDS

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) by 15.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,010 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Dillard’s worth $30,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Dillard’s by 14.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 91,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,029,000 after buying an additional 11,733 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Dillard’s by 756.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 70,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,554,000 after acquiring an additional 62,608 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dillard’s by 75.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,687,000 after acquiring an additional 28,468 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Dillard’s by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 65,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,388,000 after acquiring an additional 11,640 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dillard’s by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 44,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,009,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DDS shares. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on shares of Dillard’s from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dillard’s in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Dillard’s from $184.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Zacks Research cut shares of Dillard’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Dillard’s from $524.00 to $449.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dillard’s currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $519.67.

Dillard’s Price Performance

Shares of DDS opened at $589.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $639.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $621.62. Dillard’s, Inc. has a 52-week low of $282.24 and a 52-week high of $741.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 2.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $13.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.98 by $3.07. Dillard’s had a net margin of 8.81% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $13.48 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Dillard’s, Inc. will post 33.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dillard’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.30%.

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.