Vanguard Group Inc. Has $550.36 Million Stock Holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,507,889 shares of the company’s stock after selling 758,366 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Macy’s worth $550,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in M. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 118,626 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,691,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,611,000 after buying an additional 195,880 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s during the third quarter valued at about $594,000. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 724.1% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 103,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after acquiring an additional 91,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 57.9% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 782,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,276,000 after acquiring an additional 286,879 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,723 shares in the company, valued at $59,887.64. The trade was a 37.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total value of $47,938.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 116,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,107.10. This trade represents a 2.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on M. Benchmark raised Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Macy’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. New Street Research set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.30.

Macy’s Price Performance

Macy’s stock opened at $12.60 on Tuesday. Macy’s, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.48 and a 12 month high of $20.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.26. The company has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35 and a beta of 2.07.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 5.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Macy’s’s payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

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.