Norges Bank Purchases New Holdings in Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,711,082 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $96,689,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 2.06% of Macy's as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Macy's by 31.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,223,918 shares of the company's stock worth $20,721,000 after buying an additional 295,928 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its position in shares of Macy's by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 70,899 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 6,697 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Macy's by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 80,836 shares of the company's stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,665 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Macy's in the fourth quarter worth $990,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Macy's by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,137,132 shares of the company's stock worth $120,832,000 after purchasing an additional 774,693 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on M shares. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Macy's from an "accumulate" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. New Street Research set a $13.00 price target on shares of Macy's in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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 report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Macy's from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Macy's in a report on Friday, March 7th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.30.

Remove Ads

Insider Transactions at Macy's

In related news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,887.64. This trade represents a 37.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Antony Spring sold 3,124 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total value of $42,923.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,746,623.20. This trade represents a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790 over the last ninety days. 2.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Macy's Trading Down 13.3 %

NYSE M traded down $1.76 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $11.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,161,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,084,609. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Macy's, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.04 and a 52 week high of $20.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38 and a beta of 2.07.

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

Macy's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Macy's's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

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.