Towle & Co. Has $9.77 Million Stock Position in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Towle & Co. reduced its stake in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 44.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 577,042 shares of the company’s stock after selling 460,607 shares during the period. Towle & Co.’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $9,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Macy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $96,689,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Macy’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,775,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Macy’s by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,503,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,038,000 after buying an additional 2,812,151 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Macy’s by 1,230.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,387,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,415,000 after buying an additional 2,207,809 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC lifted its stake in Macy’s by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 7,838,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,701,000 after buying an additional 1,627,572 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

M has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Macy’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Macy’s in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. New Street Research set a $13.00 price objective on Macy’s in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Benchmark upgraded Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Macy’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $12.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Macy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.00.

Macy’s Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Macy’s stock opened at $12.24 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.27. Macy’s, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.76 and a 12-month high of $20.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 1.77. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The business had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.96%. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Macy’s

In other Macy’s news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,723 shares in the company, valued at $59,887.64. This represents a 37.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Antony Spring sold 3,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total value of $42,923.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,746,623.20. This trade represents a 1.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790 in the last quarter. 1.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Macy’s Company 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.