Piper Sandler Downgrades Macerich (NYSE:MAC) to Underweight

Piper Sandler lowered shares of Macerich (NYSE:MAC) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Piper Sandler currently has $11.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous target price of $17.00.

MAC has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Macerich from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Truist Financial reiterated a hold rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Macerich in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Macerich from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup raised Macerich from a sell rating to a neutral rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $8.00 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Macerich currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $14.83.

Macerich Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Macerich stock opened at $13.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $16.24 and a 200 day moving average of $14.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 2.38. Macerich has a fifty-two week low of $9.05 and a fifty-two week high of $17.69.

Macerich (NYSE:MAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $238.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $224.49 million. Macerich had a negative return on equity of 13.42% and a negative net margin of 38.96%. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Macerich will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macerich Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Macerich’s dividend payout ratio is currently -43.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Macerich news, President Edward C. Coppola sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.20, for a total transaction of $860,000.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 655,667 shares in the company, valued at $11,277,472.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Macerich news, President Edward C. Coppola sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.20, for a total value of $860,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 655,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,277,472.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Edward C. Coppola sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total value of $340,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 635,667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,812,695.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,964 shares of company stock worth $2,940,030 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Macerich

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Macerich by 1,460.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 324,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,007,000 after buying an additional 303,704 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Macerich by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,488,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,973,000 after acquiring an additional 31,445 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Macerich by 91.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 221,834 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 105,663 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Macerich by 15.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 579,573 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 76,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Macerich by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 8,145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.38% of the company’s stock.

Macerich Company Profile

Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). As a leading owner, operator and developer of high-quality retail real estate in densely populated and attractive U.S. markets, Macerich's portfolio is concentrated in California, the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix/Scottsdale, and the Metro New York to Washington, DC corridor.