Macy’s Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 39,370 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 68% compared to the average volume of 23,386 call options.

Macy’s Price Performance

Macy’s stock opened at $15.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99 and a beta of 2.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.96 and its 200 day moving average is $15.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Macy’s has a 52-week low of $13.66 and a 52-week high of $22.10.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. Macy’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Macy’s will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macy’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 155.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 36,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22,474 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Macy’s in the second quarter worth about $520,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 47.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 29,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 9,379 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 167.0% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 271,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,222,000 after purchasing an additional 170,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 400.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 55,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 74,201 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on M. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Macy’s from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Macy’s from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Macy’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.78.

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.