State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Holdings in Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,811 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,151 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Signet Jewelers were worth $3,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eminence Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers in the third quarter worth $40,962,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,262,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,445,000 after purchasing an additional 349,771 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Signet Jewelers in the third quarter worth $19,826,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 26.6% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 719,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,645,000 after purchasing an additional 151,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 8.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,201,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,253,000 after purchasing an additional 93,136 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Signet Jewelers from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut Signet Jewelers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.20.

Signet Jewelers Stock Performance

Signet Jewelers stock opened at $101.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.13. Signet Jewelers Limited has a one year low of $57.10 and a one year high of $109.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $99.57 and a 200 day moving average of $93.24.

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

Signet Jewelers Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Signet Jewelers’s payout ratio is currently 7.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Signet Jewelers

In other Signet Jewelers news, insider William Brace sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $297,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 75,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,490,736. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Oded Edelman sold 7,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.36, for a total value of $833,502.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,706.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider William Brace sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total value of $297,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 75,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,490,736. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,254 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,294. Company insiders own 4.54% of the company’s stock.

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.