Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Macy’s (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 20,773 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 24% compared to the average daily volume of 16,715 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macy’s

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of M. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Macy’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Macy’s by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,023,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,110,000 after purchasing an additional 128,258 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Macy’s by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 118,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,859,000 after purchasing an additional 37,218 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in Macy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $193,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Macy’s in the third quarter valued at $503,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy’s Trading Up 8.2 %

Macy’s stock opened at $16.30 on Friday. Macy’s has a 12-month low of $14.06 and a 12-month high of $22.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 25.47 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.83.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Macy’s had a return on equity of 23.14% and a net margin of 0.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Macy’s will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.1737 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 107.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on M shares. Argus upgraded Macy’s to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Sunday, November 10th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Macy’s from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.43.

About Macy’s

Macy's, Inc, an omni-channel retail organization, operates stores, websites, and mobile applications in the United States. The company sells a range of merchandise, such as apparel and accessories for men, women, and kids; cosmetics; home furnishings; and other consumer goods under the Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and bluemercury brands.