Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 63,543 Shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Free Report) by 18.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 272,644 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,543 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.10% of Macy's worth $4,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in M. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Macy's in the 3rd quarter valued at $730,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Macy's in the third quarter valued at about $221,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Macy's during the third quarter worth about $594,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Macy's by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,023,790 shares of the company's stock worth $79,110,000 after buying an additional 128,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Macy's by 45.8% in the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 118,479 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,859,000 after acquiring an additional 37,218 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Macy's from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Macy's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Macy's to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Macy's in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Macy's in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.56.

Macy's Stock Performance

M traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $16.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,312,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,409,379. The company's 50-day moving average is $15.93 and its 200-day moving average is $16.34. Macy's, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.06 and a 52 week high of $22.10. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 28.51 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Macy's (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.03). Macy's had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Macy's, Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Macy's Announces Dividend

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 $0.1737 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Macy's's dividend payout ratio is presently 116.95%.

About Macy's

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.