Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Trading 3.4% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG)’s stock price traded up 3.4% during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $57.87 and last traded at $58.22. 228,287 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 1,048,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.30.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. This is a boost from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Signet Jewelers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Signet Jewelers in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $95.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Signet Jewelers presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.60.

Signet Jewelers Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $54.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 2.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $6.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.39 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.33 billion. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 28.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Signet Jewelers Limited will post 8.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Signet Jewelers news, Director Eugenia Ulasewicz sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $180,415.29. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,565.76. This trade represents a 12.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Signet Jewelers

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers during the fourth quarter worth $565,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers during the fourth quarter worth $297,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 4,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 111,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,008,000 after acquiring an additional 13,769 shares in the last quarter.

Signet Jewelers Company Profile

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, Zales Jewelers, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile.