Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

SIG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Signet Jewelers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $120.20.

Signet Jewelers Price Performance

NYSE:SIG opened at $98.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 6.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 2.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $99.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.78. Signet Jewelers has a fifty-two week low of $57.10 and a fifty-two week high of $109.17.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $6.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.33 by $0.40. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 11.30% and a return on equity of 32.26%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Signet Jewelers will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is an increase from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 5,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.53, for a total value of $486,237.43. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,409,044.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 5,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.53, for a total transaction of $486,237.43. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at $5,409,044.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joan M. Hilson sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.69, for a total value of $741,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 187,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,367,974.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,254 shares of company stock worth $5,075,854 in the last quarter. 4.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Signet Jewelers

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SIG. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 9.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Signet Jewelers by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 254,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,421,000 after purchasing an additional 20,133 shares during the last quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Grace & White Inc. NY now owns 195,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,605,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Signet Jewelers by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 452,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,308,000 after buying an additional 58,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 25,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after buying an additional 3,910 shares during the period.

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 Outlet, Zales Jewelers, 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.