Macy’s (NYSE:M) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Macy’s (NYSE:M) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Macy’s from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Macy’s from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.78.

Macy’s Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE M opened at $14.04 on Tuesday. Macy’s has a 1 year low of $14.01 and a 1 year high of $22.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80 and a beta of 2.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.13.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Macy’s will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.1737 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Macy’s

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 9.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,489,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,385,000 after buying an additional 1,379,476 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,611,000 after buying an additional 195,880 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 1,539.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,534,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,871,000 after buying an additional 3,319,337 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 4.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,661,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,765,000 after buying an additional 118,626 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Macy’s Company 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.