Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on SIG. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Signet Jewelers in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Signet Jewelers from $145.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.60.

Signet Jewelers Stock Up 0.2 %

SIG stock opened at $100.20 on Thursday. Signet Jewelers has a 52 week low of $72.26 and a 52 week high of $112.06. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 2.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.67.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.11. Signet Jewelers had a return on equity of 29.90% and a net margin of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Signet Jewelers will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Signet Jewelers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Signet Jewelers’s payout ratio is 13.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joan M. Hilson sold 8,000 shares of Signet Jewelers stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total value of $756,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 200,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,993,817.08. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 3,763 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $347,400.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,058 shares in the company, valued at $3,975,114.56. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,957 shares of company stock worth $4,599,306. 3.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Signet Jewelers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Khrom Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $58,357,000. Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in Signet Jewelers by 71.3% during the second quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 844,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,644,000 after purchasing an additional 351,588 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 2.9% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 6,949,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,562,000 after purchasing an additional 193,977 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,386,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,809,000 after buying an additional 149,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,069,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,347,000 after buying an additional 126,726 shares during the period.

About Signet Jewelers

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.