Stock Alert: TJX Companies Rises 7%

(RTTNews) - Shares of TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) are rising more than 7 percent in the morning trade on Wednesday at $64.02, near to its 52-week high, after the off-price retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates, raised its quarterly dividend, and announced a share buyback.

The stock has traded in a range of $49.05 to $64.95 in the past 52 weeks.

Wednesday, TJX Companies said its profit for the fourth quarter rose to $984.79 million or $0.81 per share from $841.54 million or $0.68 per share in the year-ago period.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.77 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter grew 9.7 percent to $12.21 billion from $11.13 billion last year. TJX also said it plans to repurchase about $1.75 billion to $2.25 billion of its common stock during the fiscal year ending January 30, 2021.

The board has approved repurchase up to an additional $1.5 billion of TJX common stock from time to time. TJX also said it plans to increase the regular quarterly dividend on its common stock to be declared in March 2020 and payable in June 2020 by 13 percent to $0.26 per share.