Macy’s Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 42,968 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 56% compared to the typical daily volume of 27,492 call options.

Macy’s Stock Performance

M stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $13.77. The company had a trading volume of 4,995,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,200,821. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38 and a beta of 2.07. 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 one year low of $12.60 and a one year high of $22.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.39.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. Research analysts anticipate that Macy’s will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Macy’s’s payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

M has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Macy’s from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Macy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $14.00 price objective on Macy’s in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of M. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Macy’s by 495.5% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.