Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

SIG has been the topic of several other research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of Signet Jewelers in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on 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 increased their target price on Signet Jewelers from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Signet Jewelers from $145.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Signet Jewelers currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.60.

Signet Jewelers Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Signet Jewelers 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.12.

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

Signet Jewelers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a 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 other Signet Jewelers news, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 3,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $347,400.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,058 shares in the company, valued at $3,975,114.56. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Virginia Drosos sold 3,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.67, for a total value of $353,303.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 775,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,829,326.15. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,957 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,306. Corporate insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 63.3% in the second quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,093,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,088,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 16.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 527,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,221,000 after buying an additional 74,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,797,000.

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.