Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 276,047 Shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 30.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 640,142 shares of the company’s stock after selling 276,047 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $10,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Macy’s by 1,539.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,534,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,871,000 after acquiring an additional 3,319,337 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Macy’s by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,489,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,385,000 after buying an additional 1,379,476 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Macy’s by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,704,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,333,000 after buying an additional 747,542 shares in the last quarter. Beryl Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Macy’s during the 1st quarter worth about $7,015,000. Finally, Alden Global Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 56.1% during the 2nd quarter. Alden Global Capital LLC now owns 606,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,649,000 after acquiring an additional 218,146 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on M shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Macy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Argus raised shares of Macy’s to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Macy’s in a report on Sunday, November 10th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.43.

Macy’s Stock Performance

Shares of M stock opened at $15.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.40 and a 200-day moving average of $16.93. Macy’s, Inc. has a one year low of $14.06 and a one year high of $22.10. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.84 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.80% and a return on equity of 23.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.1737 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 107.81%.

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.