Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $109.60.

A number of research firms have recently commented on SIG. StockNews.com lowered shares of Signet Jewelers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Signet Jewelers in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $145.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Signet Jewelers from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Signet Jewelers Stock Up 0.3 %

Signet Jewelers stock opened at $81.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.10. Signet Jewelers has a 1-year low of $72.26 and a 1-year high of $112.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Signet Jewelers had a return on equity of 28.69% and a net margin of 8.57%. Signet Jewelers’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Signet Jewelers will post 9.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Signet Jewelers Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Signet Jewelers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.35%.

Insider Activity at Signet Jewelers

In related news, Director Eugenia Ulasewicz sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.63, for a total transaction of $332,066.79. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,085 shares in the company, valued at $2,598,848.55. This represents a 11.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Oded Edelman sold 1,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.53, for a total value of $132,152.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,087,916.98. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,043 shares of company stock worth $2,058,957. 3.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Signet Jewelers

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SIG. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Signet Jewelers by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 46.1% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 53,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,833,000 after purchasing an additional 17,030 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Signet Jewelers by 2.7% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 22,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Signet Jewelers by 17.9% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,995,000.

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.