Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M – Get Rating) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,062,687 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,560 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $21,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of M. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Macy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Macy’s by 384.8% in the fourth quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797 shares during the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management lifted its stake in Macy’s by 77.8% in the first quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellevest Inc. lifted its stake in Macy’s by 44.9% in the third quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 2,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.19% of the company’s stock.

Macy’s Stock Down 6.8 %

M opened at $14.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 3.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Macy’s, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.48 and a 52 week high of $25.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.14.

Macy’s (NYSE:M – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $8.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.27 billion. Macy’s had a return on equity of 35.06% and a net margin of 4.82%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Macy’s, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.1654 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on M shares. Gordon Haskett downgraded Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Macy’s from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Macy’s from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Macy’s from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.58.

Macy’s Company Profile

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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.