Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,860,000 shares, an increase of 14.0% from the December 15th total of 16,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 12.9 days. Currently, 11.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Douglas Emmett

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DEI. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Douglas Emmett by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 6,389,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,263,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Douglas Emmett by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,883,814 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $85,809,000 after buying an additional 384,371 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Douglas Emmett by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,171,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,312,000 after buying an additional 26,961 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Douglas Emmett by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,797,822 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $66,728,000 after acquiring an additional 127,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Douglas Emmett by 8.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,495,263 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,212,000 after acquiring an additional 186,385 shares during the period. 97.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on DEI. Wedbush raised Douglas Emmett from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Douglas Emmett from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Douglas Emmett from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler raised Douglas Emmett from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Douglas Emmett from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $16.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.75.

Douglas Emmett Stock Performance

NYSE:DEI opened at $17.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of -175.04 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.65 and its 200 day moving average is $17.12. Douglas Emmett has a fifty-two week low of $12.35 and a fifty-two week high of $20.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09.

Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.38). Douglas Emmett had a negative net margin of 1.68% and a negative return on equity of 0.43%. The firm had revenue of $250.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $242.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Douglas Emmett will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Douglas Emmett Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. Douglas Emmett’s payout ratio is -760.00%.

Douglas Emmett Company Profile

Douglas Emmett, Inc (DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu. Douglas Emmett focuses on owning and acquiring a substantial share of top-tier office properties and premier multifamily communities in neighborhoods that possess significant supply constraints, high-end executive housing and key lifestyle amenities.