City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) Short Interest Up 31.2% in November

City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 361,300 shares, an increase of 31.2% from the October 31st total of 275,400 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 250,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On City Office REIT

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIO. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of City Office REIT by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 245,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after acquiring an additional 73,736 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in City Office REIT by 237.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 43,562 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of City Office REIT by 23.0% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 205,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 38,285 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of City Office REIT in the first quarter worth about $159,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of City Office REIT during the first quarter worth about $153,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.47% of the company’s stock.

City Office REIT Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:CIO opened at $5.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.81, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.97. City Office REIT has a 52 week low of $4.02 and a 52 week high of $6.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.50 and a 200 day moving average of $5.42.

City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.36). City Office REIT had a negative net margin of 5.56% and a negative return on equity of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $42.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that City Office REIT will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

City Office REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.90%. City Office REIT’s payout ratio is -95.24%.

About City Office REIT

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S.