Macy’s Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:M)

Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 26,120 call options on the company. This is an increase of 31% compared to the average volume of 19,952 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

M has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Macy’s from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Macy’s from $14.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective (up from $14.00) on shares of Macy’s in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Macy’s from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Macy’s from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Macy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.75.

Macy’s Price Performance

Macy’s stock opened at $22.41 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.95. Macy’s has a 1 year low of $9.76 and a 1 year high of $22.93.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.22. Macy’s had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Macy’s has set its Q3 2025 guidance at -0.200–0.150 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.700-2.050 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Macy’s will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Macy’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.1824 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Macy’s’s payout ratio is currently 41.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Macy’s

In other Macy’s news, EVP Danielle L. Kirgan sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.75, for a total value of $1,775,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 136,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,416,857.75. The trade was a 42.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul Griscom sold 12,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.26, for a total transaction of $221,670.18. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 23,379 shares in the company, valued at $403,521.54. The trade was a 35.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 212,843 shares of company stock worth $3,726,670 over the last quarter. 1.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its position in Macy’s by 106.0% in the first quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 2,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Macy’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in Macy’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Macy’s by 523.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 2,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Macy’s by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.