GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. Sells 62,850 Shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M)

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. reduced its stake in shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Free Report) by 81.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,600 shares of the company's stock after selling 62,850 shares during the quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC.'s holdings in Macy's were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Macy's in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $594,000. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Macy's by 724.1% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 103,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,754,000 after acquiring an additional 91,015 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Macy's by 57.9% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 782,391 shares of the company's stock worth $12,276,000 after purchasing an additional 286,879 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Macy's by 1,076.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 178,778 shares of the company's stock worth $3,027,000 after buying an additional 163,587 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Macy's by 155.8% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 81,626 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,381,000 after buying an additional 49,715 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on M shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Macy's from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Gordon Haskett downgraded Macy's from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Macy's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Macy's in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Macy's from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $14.90.

Macy's Stock Performance

M traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.13. The stock had a trading volume of 5,510,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,189,274. 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 50 day moving average price of $13.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.84. Macy's, Inc. has a one year low of $9.76 and a one year high of $20.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86 and a beta of 1.73.

Macy's (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy's had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.76 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Macy's, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors 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. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Macy's's payout ratio is 35.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Antony Spring sold 20,868 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $264,606.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 321,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,073,373.92. This trade represents a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total transaction of $47,938.86. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 116,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,596,107.10. This represents a 2.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,751 shares of company stock valued at $537,790 over the last 90 days. 2.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.