Citigroup Cuts Macy’s (NYSE:M) Price Target to $14.00

Macy’s (NYSE:M) had its price target lowered by Citigroup from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

M has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Macy’s from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Macy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark upgraded Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Macy’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Macy’s Stock Performance

NYSE M opened at $14.10 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $15.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 2.07. Macy’s has a 1-year low of $12.60 and a 1-year high of $22.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.17.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The business had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.76 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Macy’s will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. This is an increase from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Macy’s

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Macy’s by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,661,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,765,000 after acquiring an additional 118,626 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Macy’s by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,611,000 after purchasing an additional 195,880 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Macy’s in the third quarter valued at about $594,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 724.1% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 103,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 91,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alerus Financial NA purchased a new stake in shares of Macy’s in the third quarter worth about $2,144,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Macy’s

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.