Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Sells 54,319 Shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 133,238 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,319 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $2,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Macy’s by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,751,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,666,000 after buying an additional 1,149,454 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC grew its position in shares of Macy’s by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 7,838,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,701,000 after buying an additional 1,627,572 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Macy’s by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,503,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,038,000 after acquiring an additional 2,812,151 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,137,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,832,000 after acquiring an additional 774,693 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Macy’s during the fourth quarter worth $96,689,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on M shares. Benchmark raised shares of Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. New Street Research set a $13.00 price target on Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Macy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Macy’s Stock Down 0.7%

M stock opened at $12.01 on Friday. Macy’s, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.76 and a twelve month high of $20.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $12.07 and its 200-day moving average is $14.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 1.77.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of Macy’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total transaction of $47,938.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 116,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,107.10. This trade represents a 2.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Antony Spring sold 3,124 shares of Macy’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total value of $42,923.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 272,680 shares in the company, valued at $3,746,623.20. This trade represents a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790. 1.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Macy’s

Macy’s, Inc engages in the retail of apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, and other consumer goods. The firm’s brands include Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Bluemercury. It offers men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel, women’s accessories, intimate apparel, shoes, cosmetics, fragrances, as well as home and miscellaneous products.