California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 83,276 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,855 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Signet Jewelers were worth $8,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Vincent Ciccolini sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.64, for a total transaction of $406,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 46,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,683,164.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Signet Jewelers news, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 5,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.53, for a total value of $486,237.43. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,409,044.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Vincent Ciccolini sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.64, for a total value of $406,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 46,076 shares in the company, valued at $4,683,164.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,254 shares of company stock valued at $5,075,854. Corporate insiders own 4.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on SIG. Bank of America lowered their price target on Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Signet Jewelers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued 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 $120.20.

Signet Jewelers Price Performance

NYSE SIG opened at $97.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.15. Signet Jewelers Limited has a 1-year low of $57.10 and a 1-year high of $109.17. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.00.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $6.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.33 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. Signet Jewelers had a return on equity of 32.26% and a net margin of 11.30%. Signet Jewelers’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Signet Jewelers Limited will post 10.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Signet Jewelers’s payout ratio is 7.74%.

Signet Jewelers Company Profile

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, Zales Jewelers, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile.