StockNews.com Lowers Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on SIG. Citigroup upgraded Signet Jewelers from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $93.00 to $119.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Signet Jewelers from $138.00 to $134.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $114.60.

Signet Jewelers Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Signet Jewelers stock opened at $100.09 on Tuesday. Signet Jewelers has a twelve month low of $57.10 and a twelve month high of $108.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $100.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 2.13.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $6.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.55 billion. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 11.30% and a return on equity of 32.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.52 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Signet Jewelers will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is an increase from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Virginia Drosos sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.93, for a total transaction of $3,357,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 932,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,477,748.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Virginia Drosos sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.93, for a total transaction of $3,357,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 932,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,477,748.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider William Brace sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.82, for a total value of $314,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 79,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,325,223.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 95,435 shares of company stock worth $9,302,391. Company insiders own 4.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Signet Jewelers

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SIG. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $913,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Signet Jewelers by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 125,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,408,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 30,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the last quarter.

About Signet Jewelers

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile.