Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Holdings in Macerich Company (The) $MAC

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Macerich Company (The) (NYSE:MAC) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,784,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 56,608 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.71% of Macerich worth $28,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Macerich by 47.7% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,011 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Macerich by 2,691.6% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in Macerich in the 1st quarter worth about $178,000. PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Macerich during the 1st quarter valued at about $179,000. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Macerich by 376.8% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 13,140 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 10,384 shares during the period. 87.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Macerich from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Macerich from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Macerich in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Macerich from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Macerich from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $23.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.95.

Macerich Price Performance

MAC stock opened at $17.25 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of -9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 2.25. Macerich Company has a one year low of $12.48 and a one year high of $22.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Macerich (NYSE:MAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). Macerich had a negative return on equity of 15.15% and a negative net margin of 41.33%.The company had revenue of $253.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Macerich Company will post 1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macerich Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Macerich’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -42.77%.

Macerich Company Profile

Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). As a leading owner, operator and developer of high-quality retail real estate in densely populated and attractive U.S. markets, Macerich’s portfolio is concentrated in California, the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix/Scottsdale, and the Metro New York to Washington, DC corridor.