The Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) Short Interest Update

The Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC – Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,760,000 shares, a decrease of 16.3% from the May 15th total of 22,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Several analysts recently issued reports on MAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Macerich from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Macerich from $14.75 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Macerich from $13.50 to $12.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Macerich from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Macerich from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.10.

In other Macerich news, President Edward C. Coppola bought 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.90 per share, for a total transaction of $33,390.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 475,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,250.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hern Thomas E. O bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $14.62 per share, for a total transaction of $146,200.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 87,100 shares of company stock worth $977,840. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Macerich by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,408,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,183,000 after acquiring an additional 453,813 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Macerich by 17.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,459,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,100,000 after acquiring an additional 373,618 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Macerich by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 62,544 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 5,421 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Macerich by 1,196.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 357,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,177,000 after buying an additional 329,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Macerich by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 15,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 8,500 shares during the last quarter. 84.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NYSE:MAC traded up $0.04 on Friday, hitting $9.02. The company had a trading volume of 87,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,758,882. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.90, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $12.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.97. Macerich has a 52 week low of $8.69 and a 52 week high of $22.88.

Macerich (NYSE:MAC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 9th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.63). The company had revenue of $216.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.20 million. Macerich had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 1.29%. Macerich’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Macerich will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 19th. Macerich’s payout ratio is currently 300.00%.

Macerich Company Profile (Get Rating)

Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich currently owns 51 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 47 regional shopping centers.

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