Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 134,081 Shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its holdings in shares of Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 88.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,364 shares of the company’s stock after selling 134,081 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Macy’s were worth $294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of M. West Tower Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. West Tower Group LLC now owns 73,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 26,659 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in Macy’s by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 38,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 2,316 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Macy’s by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 129,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after buying an additional 7,617 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Macy’s by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,445,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,464,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Macy’s by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 45,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on M shares. Gordon Haskett lowered Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Macy’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Macy’s from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Macy’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Tracy M. Preston sold 2,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $35,250.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,887.64. This trade represents a 37.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Antony Spring sold 3,124 shares of the business’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 $42,923.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,746,623.20. This represents a 1.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,751 shares of company stock valued at $537,790 in the last quarter. 2.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Macy’s Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of M stock opened at $12.87 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Macy’s, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.48 and a 12-month high of $20.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81 and a beta of 2.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.32 and its 200 day moving average is $15.25.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. Macy’s had a return on equity of 21.99% and a net margin of 0.73%. The firm had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.76 billion. Research analysts expect that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This is an increase from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Macy’s’s payout ratio is currently 35.44%.

Macy’s 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.