Vert Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Vert Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,445 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,435 shares during the period. Alexandria Real Estate Equities comprises 2.3% of Vert Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Vert Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $6,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARE. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,585,038 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,270,634,000 after acquiring an additional 112,864 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,450,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $291,045,000 after purchasing an additional 72,934 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 11,449.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,423,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $169,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411,304 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 0.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 860,716 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $102,210,000 after buying an additional 4,389 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management lifted its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 841,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,023,000 after buying an additional 32,367 shares during the period. 96.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ARE shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Friday, December 6th. JMP Securities reduced their target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $125.00 to $114.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alexandria Real Estate Equities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.90.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Stock Up 0.4 %

ARE opened at $102.03 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $102.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.21, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.16. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.35 and a fifty-two week high of $130.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a return on equity of 1.31% and a net margin of 9.62%. On average, research analysts expect that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. This is a boost from Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 321.95%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Profile

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.