Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) Short Interest Update

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) saw a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a drop of 11.2% from the September 15th total of 2,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 673,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 5,937 shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.47, for a total transaction of $691,482.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 5,937 shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.47, for a total transaction of $691,482.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 30,292 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total transaction of $3,519,021.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,020.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Federal Realty Investment Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FRT. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Federal Realty Investment Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Federal Realty Investment Trust by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 407,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,002,000 after purchasing an additional 93,048 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 132.1% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 3,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $2,097,000. 93.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Federal Realty Investment Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FRT traded up $2.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $113.85. 141,265 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 622,043. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $113.84 and a 200 day moving average of $106.55. Federal Realty Investment Trust has a 1 year low of $85.59 and a 1 year high of $118.34.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by ($0.36). Federal Realty Investment Trust had a net margin of 24.69% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $295.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Federal Realty Investment Trust will post 6.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Federal Realty Investment Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This is a positive change from Federal Realty Investment Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.09. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Federal Realty Investment Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 156.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FRT shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $122.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $112.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.77.

About Federal Realty Investment Trust

Federal Realty is a recognized leader in the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality retail-based properties located primarily in major coastal markets from Washington, DC to Boston as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Founded in 1962, Federal Realty's mission is to deliver long-term, sustainable growth through investing in communities where retail demand exceeds supply.