Macy’s Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 39,370 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 68% compared to the average daily volume of 23,386 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Macy’s to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Macy’s from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Macy’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.78.

Institutional Trading of Macy’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of M. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Macy’s by 155.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 36,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22,474 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Macy’s during the second quarter worth about $520,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Macy’s by 47.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 29,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 9,379 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in Macy’s by 167.0% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 271,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,222,000 after purchasing an additional 170,115 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Macy’s by 400.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 55,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 74,201 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy’s Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE M opened at $15.34 on Friday. Macy’s has a 52 week low of $13.66 and a 52 week high of $22.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.88. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.99 and a beta of 2.07.

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

About Macy’s

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.