5,711,082 Shares in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,711,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $96,689,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Macy’s during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Macy’s during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Macy’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Macy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $115,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a report on Monday, March 10th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $15.00 target price on Macy’s in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Macy’s from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Macy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, New Street Research set a $13.00 target price on Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Macy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of Macy’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 116,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,107.10. The trade was a 2.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,723 shares in the company, valued at $59,887.64. This represents a 37.05 % 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 in the last 90 days. 2.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Macy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE M opened at $12.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 1.26. Macy’s, Inc. has a one year low of $12.48 and a one year high of $20.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81 and a beta of 2.07.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Analysts expect that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.1824 dividend. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.67%. 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.