Macerich (NYSE:MAC) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Macerich Company (The) (NYSE:MAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to a neutral rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a $25.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $23.00. Macerich traded as high as $25.72 and last traded at $25.0250, with a volume of 4155773 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $25.45.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Macerich from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Macerich from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Macerich from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Macerich from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $20.00 target price on shares of Macerich in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Macerich has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.54.

Institutional Trading of Macerich

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MAC. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Macerich by 2.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,162,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $245,322,000 after purchasing an additional 351,907 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Macerich by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,555,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $250,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,034,338 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Macerich by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,608,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,008,000 after purchasing an additional 70,132 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Macerich by 149.6% in the 4th quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 6,354,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,307,000 after buying an additional 3,808,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Macerich by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,039,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $93,030,000 after buying an additional 123,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.38% of the company’s stock.

Macerich Stock Down 3.3%

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $22.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 2.10.

Macerich (NYSE:MAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $241.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $233.06 million. Macerich had a negative net margin of 18.22% and a negative return on equity of 6.95%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Macerich Company will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macerich Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Macerich’s dividend payout ratio is presently -95.77%.

About Macerich

The Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, development, ownership and management of regional shopping centers in the United States. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the company focuses on high-quality retail properties, including enclosed malls, open-air centers and mixed-use lifestyle destinations. Since its establishment as a REIT in 1994, Macerich has pursued a disciplined strategy of investing in properties that serve strong consumer demographics and offer long-term growth potential.

Macerich’s core activities encompass property and asset management, leasing, marketing and redevelopment services.