Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA – Get Rating) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several analysts recently weighed in on DEA shares. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Easterly Government Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Easterly Government Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut Easterly Government Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, January 7th. Raymond James cut Easterly Government Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Easterly Government Properties in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Shares of NYSE:DEA opened at $20.23 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.35. Easterly Government Properties has a twelve month low of $19.64 and a twelve month high of $23.65. The company has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.80 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Sunday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.02). Easterly Government Properties had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 2.20%. The business had revenue of $71.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Easterly Government Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Easterly Government Properties will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 10th were issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 9th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.24%. Easterly Government Properties’s payout ratio is presently 302.86%.

In other news, Chairman Darrell W. Crate sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.81, for a total value of $208,100.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William C. Trimble sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.40, for a total value of $149,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 43,594 shares of company stock valued at $919,174. 9.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DEA. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Easterly Government Properties by 2,321.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,403,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,663,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304,519 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Easterly Government Properties by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,692,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $382,596,000 after buying an additional 1,590,968 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in Easterly Government Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at $23,453,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in Easterly Government Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,464,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Easterly Government Properties by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,328,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,459,000 after buying an additional 539,806 shares during the last quarter. 90.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Easterly Government Properties Company Profile (Get Rating)

Easterly Government Properties, Inc (NYSE:DEA) is based in Washington, DC, and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly's experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S.

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