StockNews.com Upgrades Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SIG. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Signet Jewelers presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $120.20.

Signet Jewelers Price Performance

SIG opened at $95.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.17. Signet Jewelers has a fifty-two week low of $57.10 and a fifty-two week high of $109.17.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $6.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 11.30% and a return on equity of 32.26%. Signet Jewelers’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Signet Jewelers will post 10.6 EPS for the current year.

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a boost from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio is 6.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director H. Todd Stitzer sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.41, for a total value of $512,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 56,678 shares in the company, valued at $5,804,393.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director H. Todd Stitzer sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.41, for a total transaction of $512,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 56,678 shares in the company, valued at $5,804,393.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Howard A. Melnick sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $99,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 65,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,573,500.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,254 shares of company stock worth $5,558,494 over the last quarter. 4.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,181,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,370,000 after purchasing an additional 31,035 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,323,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,272,000 after purchasing an additional 51,397 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,843,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,386,000 after purchasing an additional 179,321 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Signet Jewelers by 2.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,769,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,610,000 after acquiring an additional 42,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Signet Jewelers by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,262,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,445,000 after acquiring an additional 349,771 shares in the last quarter.

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.