Vestcor Inc Acquires Shares of 6,765 Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 545,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,235,000 after purchasing an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 72,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 8,257 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 6,530 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 3,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Macy’s during the fourth quarter worth about $624,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:M opened at $13.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.37. Macy’s, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.60 and a 52 week high of $22.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 2.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Analysts anticipate that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.1824 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.38%. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on M shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Macy’s from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.30.

Macy’s Profile

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.