Macy’s (NYSE:M) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Macy’s (NYSE:M) in a report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

M has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Macy’s from $16.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. TD Cowen downgraded Macy’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a market perform rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Macy’s from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Macy’s from a sell rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.45.

Macy’s Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of M opened at $18.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Macy’s has a 12-month low of $10.54 and a 12-month high of $22.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 50.62 and a beta of 2.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.42.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.47. Macy’s had a return on equity of 23.34% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business had revenue of $8.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Macy’s will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.1737 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 186.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Macy’s news, SVP Paul Griscom sold 2,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total value of $60,656.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,436 shares in the company, valued at $437,937.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Macy’s news, SVP Paul Griscom sold 2,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total value of $60,656.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,436 shares in the company, valued at $437,937.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Gennette sold 78,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $1,604,338.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 994,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,303,626.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 218,424 shares of company stock worth $4,405,507. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Macy’s

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Macy’s by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,381,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,645,577 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Macy’s by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,398,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,986 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC increased its stake in Macy’s by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 7,810,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,677,000 after acquiring an additional 45,159 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Macy’s by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,272,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730,307 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Macy’s by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,287,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,173,000 after acquiring an additional 565,269 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Macy’s Company Profile

Macy's, Inc, an omni-channel retail organization, operates stores, websites, and mobile applications in the United States. The company sells a range of merchandise, such as apparel and accessories for men, women, and kids; cosmetics; home furnishings; and other consumer goods under the Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and bluemercury brands.