STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) Short Interest Up 26.0% in February

STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,020,000 shares, an increase of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 3,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

STAG Industrial Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:STAG traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.42. 1,223,401 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,063,881. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.88 and a 200 day moving average of $36.36. STAG Industrial has a 12 month low of $32.27 and a 12 month high of $41.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05 and a beta of 1.05.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts predict that STAG Industrial will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This is a positive change from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. This represents a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 143.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other STAG Industrial news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,083.20. The trade was a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On STAG Industrial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in STAG Industrial by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,024,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $305,224,000 after buying an additional 2,088,839 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in STAG Industrial by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,795,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $128,361,000 after purchasing an additional 235,622 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in STAG Industrial by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,679,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $124,445,000 after purchasing an additional 204,948 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in STAG Industrial by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,421,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,748,000 after purchasing an additional 18,009 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in STAG Industrial by 7.7% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 227,629 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STAG. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, STAG Industrial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Company Profile

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.