Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

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

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SIG. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $145.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Signet Jewelers in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.60.

Signet Jewelers Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of SIG stock opened at $97.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 2.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $95.01 and its 200 day moving average is $91.49. Signet Jewelers has a 52-week low of $72.26 and a 52-week high of $112.06.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 29.90%. Signet Jewelers’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Signet Jewelers will post 10.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Signet Jewelers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Signet Jewelers news, Director Eugenia Ulasewicz sold 3,333 shares of Signet Jewelers stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.63, for a total value of $332,066.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,598,848.55. The trade was a 11.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mary Elizabeth Finn sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $640,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,745,680. This represents a 14.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,957 shares of company stock valued at $5,239,306 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Signet Jewelers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 63.3% during the second quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Signet Jewelers during the first quarter worth about $1,093,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Signet Jewelers during the first quarter worth about $1,088,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Signet Jewelers by 209.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 16,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Signet Jewelers by 16.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 527,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,221,000 after acquiring an additional 74,380 shares during the last quarter.

Signet Jewelers Company Profile

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.