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

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 39,370 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the typical daily volume of 23,386 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macy’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in M. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Macy’s by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Macy’s by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 16,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Macy’s by 11.5% in the third quarter. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Macy’s by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on M. Argus upgraded Macy’s to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Macy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised Macy’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.78.

Macy’s Price Performance

NYSE M traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,464,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,021,483. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.96 and a 200 day moving average of $15.93. Macy’s has a one year low of $13.66 and a one year high of $22.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18 and a beta of 2.07.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.03). Macy’s had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Macy’s will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Macy’s Company Profile

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.