Barington Capital Group L.P. Raises Holdings in Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Barington Capital Group L.P. boosted its stake in Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Free Report) by 84.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,200,000 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 550,000 shares during the quarter. Macy's comprises about 18.5% of Barington Capital Group L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Barington Capital Group L.P. owned 0.43% of Macy's worth $20,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy's during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Macy's by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy's during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Macy's by 495.5% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,412 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 2,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Macy's during the fourth quarter valued at about $102,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Macy's Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of M traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $11.43. The company had a trading volume of 5,776,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,243,471. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 1.73. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $12.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Macy's, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.76 and a 52-week high of $20.70.

Macy's (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Macy's, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This is an increase from Macy's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Macy's's dividend payout ratio is 35.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Antony Spring sold 20,868 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,073,373.92. The trade was a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of the business'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 value of $47,938.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 116,165 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790. Company insiders own 2.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

M has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. New Street Research set a $13.00 price target on shares of Macy's in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Macy's in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Benchmark upgraded shares of Macy's to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Macy's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Gordon Haskett cut shares of Macy's from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $14.18.

Macy's Company Profile

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.