Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,021,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 78,290 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 15.03% of Alexandria Real Estate Equities worth $2,538,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARE. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 9.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in the 3rd quarter valued at $563,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 54,343 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21,237 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 3,129.4% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 113.6% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Alexandria Real Estate Equities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.60.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Price Performance

Shares of ARE opened at $95.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.17. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.25 and a fifty-two week high of $130.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a return on equity of 1.43% and a net margin of 10.36%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.32 dividend. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s payout ratio is 293.33%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Company Profile

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.