Norges Bank Invests $40.99 Million in Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 507,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,989,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SIG. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 149.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers during the third quarter valued at $210,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers during the third quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Kevin Symancyk acquired 15,000 shares of Signet Jewelers stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.45 per share, for a total transaction of $861,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,913,289.50. This represents a 42.01 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Eugenia Ulasewicz sold 3,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction of $180,415.29. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,565.76. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SIG. UBS Group boosted their target price on Signet Jewelers from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Signet Jewelers from $95.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded Signet Jewelers to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.60.

Signet Jewelers Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:SIG opened at $54.75 on Friday. Signet Jewelers Limited has a one year low of $45.55 and a one year high of $112.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 2.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $6.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.39 by $0.23. Signet Jewelers had a return on equity of 28.69% and a net margin of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Signet Jewelers Limited will post 8.73 EPS for the current year.

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This is a boost from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio is -168.42%.

About Signet Jewelers

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.