State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Stock Position in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,280 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,019 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $3,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Macy’s by 7.8% in the 3rd 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. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Macy’s by 260.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,547,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841,432 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Macy’s by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 544,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,322,000 after purchasing an additional 73,924 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Macy’s by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,287,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,173,000 after purchasing an additional 565,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Macy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,021,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on M. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $16.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Macy’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Macy’s from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.45.

Macy’s Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:M opened at $18.44 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.54 and a 1 year high of $22.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.84 and a beta of 2.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.48.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.47. Macy’s had a return on equity of 23.34% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.1737 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 186.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Macy’s news, CEO Antony Spring sold 14,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Macy’s news, CEO Antony Spring sold 14,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul Griscom sold 2,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total value of $60,656.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,937.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,424 shares of company stock worth $4,405,507 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Macy’s 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.