Twelve of 147: Fundsmith Is the Only New Name in the Tracked Register as the Cohort Trims a Verified 1.2% — and Insiders Traded Nothing in 90 Days.

GetCoattail Research — The Filing Tape #170. TJX is on Zacks' most-watched list after a +10.6% month and a fourth straight earnings beat, with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) sitting next to a Value D. The filings show 12 of 147 tracked funds holding $1.85 billion of TJX common stock: Terry Smith's Fundsmith is the only new name in the register, with $344 million; the verified continuing cohort trimmed 1.2% in Q2; insiders recorded zero transactions in the last 90 days; one House member sold; and the full 13F market reported 12.47% more shares.

① The Hype

The TJX Companies (TJX) — the parent of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and other stores — made Zacks.com's list of most-watched stocks on October 22, 2026. Over the past month, the shares returned +10.6%, against "no change" for the Zacks S&P 500 composite, while the Zacks Retail - Discount Stores industry gained 8.4% over the period.

The story is the earnings engine. Zacks' current-quarter consensus has TJX earning $1.33 per share (+3.9% year over year), with the current fiscal year at $5.22 (+10.4%) and next fiscal year at $5.74 (+10%) — all three estimates unchanged over the last 30 days. Consensus sales run $15.81 billion for the current quarter (+4.6%), $63.91 billion this fiscal year (+5.9%) and $67.82 billion next (+6.1%). The last reported quarter posted revenue of $15.18 billion (+5.4% year over year) and EPS of $1.22 versus $1.10 a year ago — a +3.39% EPS surprise and a +0.29% revenue surprise against the $15.14 billion consensus. The company has beaten consensus EPS each of the trailing four quarters and topped revenue estimates each time.

That record is why the stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). But the same source grades it D on the Value Style Score — trading at a premium to its peers. Buy and expensive, in the same breath.

Our price file gives the tape a calendar. Through October 2, 2026, TJX closed at $132.68 — down 5.1% in Q2 ($159.70 to $151.50), down 13.6% year to date, and 21.2% below its 52-week high of $168.41 from June 12, 2026 — but 8.0% above the 52-week low of $122.84 set on September 16, 2026. So the +10.6% month Zacks describes is a bounce off that September low, inside a stock that is still down on the year.

That is the story the market is reading. The filings tell their own version.

② The Tape

Superinvestors. Twelve of 147 tracked funds held TJX common stock at June 30, 2026: 12,157,681 shares, $1.85 billion reported — 1.21% of all 13F-reported TJX shares. The register has no dominant name. PineStone Asset Management is the largest holder at 3,754,345 shares (30.9% of the cohort, a 3.51% portfolio weight) and trimmed 3.9% in Q2. Then comes the one genuinely new position in the register: Terry Smith's Fundsmith with 2,272,592 shares (18.7% of the cohort, a 2.52% weight, $344 million reported). Mirova US holds 1,901,496 shares (15.6%, 3.10% weight) and cut 21.0%. Saturna Capital holds 1,217,439 shares (10.0%, 2.33% weight), nearly flat at −0.2%.

Direction labels split nearly evenly — 5 increased, 6 decreased, 1 new — but the money moved in chunks. The verified continuing cohort (all 11 non-new holders, confirmed by two independent pairing methods with a register that reconciles to zero residual in both quarters) shrank 1.2%: 10,001,666 shares to 9,885,089, a net −116,577. The decomposition: Jensen Investment Management added 480,020 shares (+2072.6%, from a small base of 23,160), Atalanta Sosnoff added 132,699 (+61.6%) and Thornburg added 45,213 (+17.1%) — overwhelmed by Mirova's cut of 506,814 shares (−21.0%), PineStone's −153,965 and Axiom's −102,941. The two big moves — Jensen's add and Mirova's cut — nearly cancel; the rest is drift. Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital exited entirely, at 4,193 shares the smallest line in either register. The cohort's implied price of $152.29 sits 0.52% above the June 30 close of $151.50. No September early filer holds this name.

All institutions. The broad 13F market was buying while the tracked cohort trimmed. Filers rose to 2,747 (+45, +1.67%) and reported shares grew 12.47% to 1,007,912,770 — a net add of 111.78 million shares; reported value rose 8.58% to $150.35 billion (value includes option rows, so shares are the cleaner signal). The single-CUSIP fixture check matches exactly. The tracked 1.21% is the cautious edge of a register that grew much faster around it.

Insiders. The last 90 days are a blank page: one filing, zero open-market transactions. Over the last year, 40 filings show 12 sells totaling 257,603 shares and $40.77 million from 7 sellers — 10 of the 12 sells are officer rows — and 10 "buy" transactions of 116 shares for $7,915. Those buys deserve an asterisk the size of a quarter: they all sit in a February 3, 2026 filing by director Lane Amy B. that amends in 2021–2022 fractional-share purchases (1.6–22.4 shares at $64.87–$72.54, the prices of that era). They are filing-date window artifacts, not purchases made in the last year — the implied $68.24 price fails our window's price gate, which is how the amendment is visible. There are zero open-market insider buys anywhere in the 69-filing parsed record, against 20 sells totaling 314,796 shares and $47.77 million from 8 sellers, 15 of them officer rows. Our site's insider aggregate has no TJX row, so the parsed-scan-vs-aggregate exact match is this lens's cross-check.

Congress. The House aggregate shows 4 sell transactions and 0 buys — all from Rep. Kevin Hern (R), last on September 15, 2026, in the $1,001–$15,000 and $15,001–$50,000 bands. The Senate aggregate has no TJX row.

13D / 13G. Three filings, all passive, zero activist prints. BlackRock's 8.9% (99,658,272 shares, filed February 5, 2025) is the register maximum. The latest is Vanguard Capital Management at 7.49% (83,206,525 shares, filed April 30, 2026). The aggregate file matches the parsed filings exactly.

Short interest. Shorts were building through the summer, not leaving. Settlements rose from 16,856,747 shares at June 30 to a series maximum of 21,724,315 at August 31, 2026, then covered 15.2% in the next two weeks to 18,418,401 shares at September 15 (2.31 days to cover, 1.67% of shares outstanding). Versus the June 30 settlement the latest is still +9.3%; versus a year ago it is +17.4%. The series runs 137 settlements from January 15, 2021, on a single market class (NYSE), with three FINRA revision flags and no split flag. In other words: the bear case grew while the price slid from its June high, peaked at the end of August, and only started to unwind as the stock bounced off its September low.

③ The Gap

The market story is a +10.6% month and four straight earnings beats on a Zacks #2 rating. The filings say: the tracked cohort trimmed a verified 1.2% in Q2 — the people paid to be choosy mostly sat or shrank, except Fundsmith, whose $344 million arrival is the register's only new position. The one member of Congress who disclosed anything sold. Insiders have bought nothing in the open market across the whole parsed record, and transacted nothing at all in the last 90 days.

And yet the broader 13F market added 12.47% more shares in the same quarter. That contrast is the whole piece: the enthusiasm for TJX is broad, not deep. The +10.6% month itself is a bounce off the September 16 low in a stock still down 13.6% year to date through October 2 — and short interest tells the same story from the other side: shorts built to a series peak of 21.7 million shares at August 31, betting against the slide, and covered 15.2% in the fortnight as the bounce began. The tape would need new filings, not a new month, to say whether the bounce has institutional backing from the tracked names.

One plausible reading is that this is simply what off-price retail looks like in the filings: a huge passive and broad-ownership base (Vanguard and BlackRock print the 8% stakes), steady-state insiders who sell more than they buy, and a tracked-fund register that is diversified enough — no name above 30.9% — that no single holder's move reads as a signal. The tape does not say that reading is wrong. It does say the buying enthusiasm is entirely external to the tracked names, and that Zacks' own two grades sit oddly together: the Buy rating's near-term case is a consensus engine that the tracked cohort, on balance, lightened into.

④ What Would Change the Picture

Nothing above is a recommendation. It is a record. The next filing cycles will rewrite that record one row at a time — here is what would change the picture, all checkable in future filings:

• 1. The Q3 13F season (deadline November 16, 2026). Does Fundsmith add to its new $344 million stake, or was it a single quarter's build? Does Mirova keep cutting after its 21.0% trim? Does the verified cohort keep drifting −1.2%, or reverse?
• 2. A genuine insider buy. Any open-market purchase in a future Form 4 would be the first in our parsed record. The 10 transactions in the last year are a stale amendment — watch whether a real buyer ever appears.
• 3. Short interest turning. Shorts covered 15.2% in the two weeks to September 15, down from the August 31 series peak. A renewed build — especially back above the 21.7 million peak — would signal the bear case is rearming.
• 4. A new 13D. There has never been one in our register (all three filings are passive G prints). A fresh SC 13D would change the character of the register.
• 5. Congressional trades. Four sells, zero buys now, all from one member. Any buy would be the first data point in an empty buying record.

⑤ As-of & Limits

Methodology and data notes

• As-of & limits: The lenses rest on different clocks, none live: 13F is a June 30, 2026 snapshot published up to 45 days later; Form 4 windows run through October 2, 2026; Congress aggregates run through October 3, 2026 (Senate through October 1, 2026); 13D/G through April 30, 2026; short interest is not held; the price file ends October 2, 2026. Limits specific to this audit. First, the tracked cohort is 12 managers with no single dominant holder — the largest, PineStone at 30.9%, is a retail position at a 3.51% portfolio weight; the verified −1.2% is Mirova's −506,814 shares against Jensen's +480,020 and four smaller adds, not a cohort-wide move. Second, TJX common stock carries a single CUSIP (872540109), and the full-market by-CUSIP row matches the by-ticker aggregate on every field — holders, long holders, shares, reported value, prior holders and prior reported value — so no CUSIP blending question arises. Third, the tracked change labels are verified, not taken on trust: all 11 continuing positions were verified by two methods that agree — a total-value prefix pass and accession identity plus CUSIP-overlap pairing — with each label recomputing exactly from share counts; the single NEW label (Fundsmith) was audited against the Q1 register and is genuine; the single exit (Maverick Capital, 4,193 shares) is confirmed in the Q2 register's absence. No September early filer holds this name. The registers reconcile with no remainder: the March 31 register equals the verified continuing holders' 10,001,666 shares plus the exited 4,193 shares; the June 30 register equals the June cohort's 12,157,681 shares exactly (all common stock, no option rows). Fourth, the June cohort's implied price is $152.29 against the June 30 close of $151.50 (+0.52%). Fifth, the full-market aggregate implies $149.17 against the $151.50 close (−1.54%): the aggregate is a reported sum that includes option rows, so its implied price need not equal the close; this audit uses filer counts and share counts as this lens's primary measures and reports the value as reported only. Sixth, the insider lens rests on a single aggregate bucket — this issuer's filings sit under one symbol spelling, "TJX", with no case split — cross-checked against a row-level scan of all 69 parsed filings for the issuer (CIK 109198): filing counts, transaction counts, share counts, officer-row counts and values reproduce exactly in every window, and no accession appears under more than one symbol spelling. The 10 buy transactions in the one-year window are a late-reported amendment with transaction dates in 2021–2022, disclosed in a February 3, 2026 filing: their implied $68.24 price falls outside that window's close range ($122.84–$168.41), which is the disclosed gate failure that identifies them as stale; every insider implied-sale-price check that applies passes (the one-year implied sale price of $158.27 and the full-record implied sale price of $151.74 each sit inside their filing-window close ranges). The 90-day window contains a single filing with zero P/S-coded transactions. Form 4 windows in this audit are filing-date windows. Our site's insider aggregate has no TJX row (checked October 23, 2026), so no site-level cross-check applies. Seventh, the congressional lens is reported across four files: the combined aggregate, the House aggregate, the Senate aggregate and the member files — the House shows 4 sell transactions by one member (Rep. Kevin Hern, R) and 0 buys; the Senate aggregate has no row; that pattern is reported, not interpreted. Eighth, the 5% register holds only passive prints: BlackRock's SC 13G/A (filed February 5, 2025) prints 99,658,272 shares at 8.9% as of December 31, 2024; Vanguard Capital Management's SC 13G (filed April 30, 2026) prints 83,206,525 shares at 7.49% as of March 31, 2026 — the latest print. The parsed totals match the aggregates exactly, and each print is reported individually in the text. Ninth, the short-interest series holds 137 settlements beginning January 15, 2021, so its maximum and minimum describe that span only. Within it, no settlement steps to 2x or more of the prior settlement and none steps to one-half or less, so the series carries no discontinuity on this measure. No row carries a split flag; three rows (April 15, 2021 at 10,227,291 shares; June 15, 2021 at 10,840,361; November 15, 2023 at 11,813,428) carry FINRA revision flags. The issuer-name field reads "TJX Companies, Inc. (The)" at all 137 settlements, on a single market class (NYSE) throughout. The share count behind the 1.67% figure is 1,099,974,061 shares in our fundamentals file (a measured period-end count), not a float estimate. The recent path reads 17,974,454 (Jul 15) → 19,458,498 (Jul 31) → 19,698,593 (Aug 14) → 21,724,315 (Aug 31, the maximum) → 18,418,401 (Sep 15, −15.2% below the maximum). Tenth, the 1.67% short-interest figure uses 1,099,974,061 shares from our fundamentals file (a measured period-end count), not a float estimate. Our price file records no split factor for this name. The fundamentals revenue field carries a stale FY2018 tag and is not used; FY2026 net income ($5.494 billion) and assets ($35.767 billion) are reported as stored. The Zacks figures in The Hype — the most-watched listing, the +10.6% past-month return, the industry gain, the Rank #2, the Value D, the reported and consensus earnings and sales figures — are that outlet's published figures, cited as such, not blended into file-based calculations.
• Market context sources: Zacks.com, October 22, 2026 ("Here is What to Know Beyond Why The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) is a Trending Stock": most-watched list; +10.6% past-month return vs Zacks S&P 500 composite "no change"; Zacks Retail - Discount Stores industry +8.4%; Zacks Rank #2 (Buy); Value Style Score D (premium to peers); consensus current-quarter EPS $1.33 (+3.9% y/y), current FY $5.22 (+10.4%), next FY $5.74 (+10%), all unchanged over 30 days; consensus sales $15.81B (+4.6%), $63.91B (+5.9%), $67.82B (+6.1%); last reported quarter revenue $15.18B (+5.4% y/y), EPS $1.22 vs $1.10 (+3.39% surprise), revenue +0.29% vs $15.14B consensus; beat EPS and revenue estimates each of the trailing four quarters).
• Market context sources: Zacks.com, October 22, 2026 ("Here is What to Know Beyond Why The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) is a Trending Stock": most-watched list; +10.6% past-month return vs Zacks S&P 500 composite "no change"; Zacks Retail - Discount Stores industry +8.4%; Zacks Rank #2 (Buy); Value Style Score D (premium to peers); consensus current-quarter EPS $1.33 (+3.9% y/y), current FY $5.22 (+10.4%), next FY $5.74 (+10%), all unchanged over 30 days; consensus sales $15.81B (+4.6%), $63.91B (+5.9%), $67.82B (+6.1%); last reported quarter revenue $15.18B (+5.4% y/y), EPS $1.22 vs $1.10 (+3.39% surprise), revenue +0.29% vs $15.14B consensus; beat EPS and revenue estimates each of the trailing four quarters).
• TJX is in the GetCoattail stock-page universe: TJX (TJX) stock page. Series data: tjx_lens_data.csv · tjx_short_interest_series.csv. Earlier audits: Nutanix · JetBlue.

Past patterns are not a promise of future results. For education only — not investment advice.

This article describes public filings as of the dates stated. It is not investment advice and makes no recommendation. Filings lag reality: 13F positions are as of June 30, 2026, and later trading is not yet public.

Revision history: v1.0 — October 23, 2026: first publication.