Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Macy’s (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 63,157 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately255% compared to the average volume of 17,776 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Macy’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of M. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $624,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 31,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 4,613 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 174,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 13,275 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,707,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,835,000 after buying an additional 684,602 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 3,579 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Macy’s Stock Performance

NYSE M opened at $16.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 1.78. Macy’s has a 1-year low of $9.76 and a 1-year high of $18.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.47.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.69 billion. Macy’s had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 2.45%.The company’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Macy’s has set its Q3 2025 guidance at -0.200–0.150 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.700-2.050 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Macy’s will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.1824 dividend. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Macy’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on M shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (up from $11.00) on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Macy’s from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.22.

Macy’s Company Profile

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.