New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,084,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,942 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $36,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of STAG. FMR LLC grew its position in STAG Industrial by 145.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,936,107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,111,268 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in STAG Industrial by 330.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,346,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,485 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in STAG Industrial by 36.0% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,670,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $65,303,000 after acquiring an additional 442,618 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in STAG Industrial by 7.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,169,164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $123,883,000 after acquiring an additional 227,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC grew its position in STAG Industrial by 19.8% in the third quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 1,063,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,588,000 after acquiring an additional 175,993 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Stock Performance

STAG Industrial stock opened at $35.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 33.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.27 and a 12 month high of $41.63.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. Research analysts expect that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.1242 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is currently 143.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on STAG shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other STAG Industrial news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About STAG Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.