STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) Short Interest Update

STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG – Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,600,000 shares, a growth of 25.7% from the April 15th total of 3,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

A number of brokerages recently commented on STAG. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of STAG Industrial in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 15th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered STAG Industrial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $47.60.

Shares of STAG traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.12. 3,427 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,541,922. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.57. STAG Industrial has a fifty-two week low of $32.32 and a fifty-two week high of $48.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 3rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $159.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.38 million. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 37.63%. STAG Industrial’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that STAG Industrial will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 30th will be paid a $0.1217 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 29th. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is currently 112.31%.

In related news, CEO Benjamin S. Butcher sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.66, for a total value of $396,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Benjamin S. Butcher sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $600,450.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,400,750 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall Wace North America L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of STAG Industrial during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in STAG Industrial by 88.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 82,198 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 38,645 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 33.9% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 594,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,269,000 after purchasing an additional 150,632 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,264,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $677,644,000 after purchasing an additional 606,300 shares during the period. 84.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About STAG Industrial (Get Rating)

STAG Industrial, Inc (NYSE: STAG) is a real estate investment trust focused on the acquisition and operation of single-tenant, industrial properties throughout the United States. By targeting this type of property, STAG has developed an investment strategy that helps investors find a powerful balance of income plus growth.

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