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

Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 45,970 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 158% compared to the average volume of 17,805 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on M shares. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on Macy's from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Macy's from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $12.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of Macy's in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Macy's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Macy's in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Macy's currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.78.

Institutional Trading of Macy's

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC raised its position in shares of Macy's by 106.0% in the 1st quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 2,200 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Macy's in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Macy's by 523.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,171 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 2,662 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Macy's by 28.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,876 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Macy's by 495.5% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,412 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy's Price Performance

Shares of Macy's stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $13.06. 2,850,314 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,201,685. The firm's fifty day moving average is $11.92 and its 200-day moving average is $12.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.71. Macy's has a 52 week low of $9.76 and a 52 week high of $18.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Macy's (NYSE:M - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. Macy's had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Macy's will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macy's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.1824 dividend. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Macy's's payout ratio is 37.06%.

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.