Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $49.73, but opened at $53.92. Signet Jewelers shares last traded at $56.28, with a volume of 632,393 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SIG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on Signet Jewelers from $87.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered Signet Jewelers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $95.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.20.

Signet Jewelers Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.56.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Signet Jewelers had a return on equity of 28.69% and a net margin of 8.57%. Signet Jewelers’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Signet Jewelers Limited will post 8.73 EPS for the current year.

Signet Jewelers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Signet Jewelers’s payout ratio is 13.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Signet Jewelers news, Director Eugenia Ulasewicz sold 3,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $180,415.29. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,752 shares in the company, valued at $1,231,565.76. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning raised its stake in Signet Jewelers by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares during the period. Trajan Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Signet Jewelers during the 3rd quarter valued at $258,000. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 28,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,921,000 after buying an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Signet Jewelers in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Signet Jewelers by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,896,000 after buying an additional 8,024 shares in 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.