Macy’s (NYSE:M) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Benchmark

Macy’s (NYSE:M) was upgraded by research analysts at Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

M has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Argus raised shares of Macy’s to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Macy’s from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Gordon Haskett raised Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.75.

Macy’s Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of M stock opened at $14.88 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.94 and a 200 day moving average of $15.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Macy’s has a 1-year low of $13.66 and a 1-year high of $22.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 2.06.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Macy’s will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macy’s

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Macy’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $140,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew 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 worth $36,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of Macy’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $761,000. Factorial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Macy’s by 61.8% during the 4th quarter. Factorial Partners LLC now owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after acquiring an additional 42,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Macy’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $621,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.