Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 5,402 Shares of Paramount Group, Inc. (NYSE:PGRE)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Paramount Group, Inc. (NYSE:PGRE) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.06% of Paramount Group worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paramount Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,922,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,999,000 after purchasing an additional 477,940 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Paramount Group by 7.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,695,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,107,000 after buying an additional 345,450 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Paramount Group by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,895,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,304,000 after buying an additional 292,392 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Paramount Group by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,233,000 after buying an additional 160,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in Paramount Group by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,484,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,335,000 after purchasing an additional 266,300 shares during the last quarter. 65.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $3.25 target price on shares of Paramount Group in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Paramount Group from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Paramount Group Stock Performance

NYSE:PGRE opened at $4.19 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $918.55 million, a P/E ratio of -4.28 and a beta of 1.10. Paramount Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $3.75 and a 12-month high of $5.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.45, a quick ratio of 4.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Paramount Group (NYSE:PGRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $186.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.41 million. Paramount Group had a negative net margin of 27.92% and a negative return on equity of 5.26%. Equities research analysts forecast that Paramount Group, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paramount Group

In related news, CEO Albert P. Behler purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.15 per share, for a total transaction of $41,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 751,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,120,019.80. This trade represents a 1.35 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 13.50% of the company’s stock.

About Paramount Group

Paramount Group, Inc (“Paramount” or the “Company”) is a fully-integrated real estate investment trust that owns, operates, manages, acquires and redevelops high-quality, Class A office properties located in select central business district submarkets of New York and San Francisco. Paramount is focused on maximizing the value of its portfolio by leveraging the sought-after locations of its assets and its proven property management capabilities to attract and retain high-quality tenants.