Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.30.

A number of equities analysts have commented on M shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macy’s

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 120,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,039,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 102,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 80,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:M opened at $13.57 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.37. Macy’s has a fifty-two week low of $12.60 and a fifty-two week high of $22.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 2.07.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Macy’s will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.1824 dividend. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Macy’s’s payout ratio is 35.44%.

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.