William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in STAG. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 76,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,572,000 after acquiring an additional 27,920 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in STAG Industrial by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc grew its position in STAG Industrial by 592.8% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 14,680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 12,561 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 358,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in STAG Industrial by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction 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 approximately $338,083.20. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

Shares of STAG Industrial stock opened at $35.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.32. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.27 and a 52 week high of $41.63. The stock has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07 and a beta of 1.05.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, STAG Industrial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.38.

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.