DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Increases Stock Position in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 136.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,603 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,391 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in M. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Macy’s by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,381,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,390,000 after buying an additional 2,645,577 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,241,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,203,000 after buying an additional 1,050,825 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Macy’s by 27.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,106,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,184,000 after buying an additional 2,155,936 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Macy’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 7,810,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,677,000 after buying an additional 45,159 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Macy’s by 171.1% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,582,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,603,000 after buying an additional 3,523,368 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Macy’s from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Macy’s from $16.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Macy’s from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Antony Spring sold 13,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total transaction of $273,709.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,559,500.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Macy’s news, CEO Antony Spring sold 13,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $273,709.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,286 shares in the company, valued at $4,559,500.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul Griscom sold 2,969 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.43, for a total value of $60,656.67. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,937.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 218,424 shares of company stock worth $4,405,507. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Macy’s Price Performance

Shares of M opened at $19.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 51.35 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.39. Macy’s, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.54 and a 1-year high of $22.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.14.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.47. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 23.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. Macy’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.1737 dividend. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Macy’s’s payout ratio is currently 186.49%.

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.