Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 65,786 Shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its stake in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 206,858 shares of the company’s stock after selling 65,786 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $3,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of M. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Macy’s by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 80,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Macy’s by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Macy’s by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 45,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 16,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,887.64. This represents a 37.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Antony Spring sold 20,868 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $264,606.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 321,244 shares in the company, valued at $4,073,373.92. This trade represents a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,751 shares of company stock valued at $537,790 in the last quarter. 2.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Macy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:M opened at $11.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 1.73. Macy’s, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.76 and a fifty-two week high of $20.70.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.1824 dividend. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.41%. Macy’s’s payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on M. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Macy’s from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Gordon Haskett cut Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.30.

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.