Barington Capital Group L.P. Acquires 550,000 Shares of Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Barington Capital Group L.P. raised its position in Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Free Report) by 84.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,200,000 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 550,000 shares during the quarter. Macy's makes up 18.5% of Barington Capital Group L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Barington Capital Group L.P. owned 0.43% of Macy's worth $20,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Macy's during the third quarter valued at about $193,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Macy's during the third quarter valued at about $594,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Macy's during the third quarter valued at about $221,000. PVG Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Macy's during the third quarter valued at about $730,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Macy's by 57.9% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 782,391 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,276,000 after buying an additional 286,879 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Macy's

In other news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $35,250.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,887.64. This represents a 37.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Adrian V. Mitchell sold 3,489 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.74, for a total value of $47,938.86. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 116,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,107.10. This represents a 2.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,751 shares of company stock worth $537,790. Company insiders own 2.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

M has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Macy's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Benchmark raised shares of Macy's to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Macy's in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Macy's from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Macy's in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $14.18.

Macy's Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE M traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $11.61. 3,096,389 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,250,362. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.60. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.76 and a 52 week high of $20.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 1.73.

Macy's (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.76 billion. Macy's had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. Analysts forecast that Macy's, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macy's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.1824 dividend. This is a positive change from Macy's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Macy's's payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

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.