Macy’s (NYSE:M) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Macy’s (NYSE:M) in a research report report published on Tuesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on M. TD Cowen cut shares of Macy’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a market perform rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Macy’s from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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 shares of Macy’s from a sell rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $14.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Macy’s has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $17.45.

Macy’s Price Performance

Macy’s stock opened at $18.54 on Tuesday. Macy’s has a 1 year low of $10.54 and a 1 year high of $22.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.22. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.09 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 1.37.

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

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.1737 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 186.49%.

Insider Activity at Macy’s

In related news, CEO Antony Spring sold 14,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.63, for a total value of $291,682.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 248,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,885,848.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Antony Spring sold 14,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.63, for a total transaction of $291,682.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 248,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,885,848.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Adrian V. Mitchell sold 13,279 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.63, for a total transaction of $260,666.77. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 120,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,364,570.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,424 shares of company stock worth $4,405,507 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Macy’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in M. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Macy’s by 7.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,381,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,645,577 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Macy’s by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,398,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,986 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Macy’s by 10.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,241,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,825 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Macy’s by 27.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,106,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,184,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Macy’s by 0.6% in the third 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 last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.