Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires 9,379 Shares of First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,379 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Industrial Realty Trust were worth $2,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FR. Rush Island Management LP bought a new position in First Industrial Realty Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $60,848,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,354,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $187,798,000 after purchasing an additional 747,101 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 290.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 895,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,105,000 after purchasing an additional 665,920 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,649,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in First Industrial Realty Trust during the third quarter worth $7,778,000. 99.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on FR. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

First Industrial Realty Trust Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of First Industrial Realty Trust stock opened at $55.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.11. First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.10 and a 1 year high of $58.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.86. The stock has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25 and a beta of 1.07.

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.36. First Industrial Realty Trust had a net margin of 42.94% and a return on equity of 10.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Industrial Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from First Industrial Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. First Industrial Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.65%.

About First Industrial Realty Trust

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FR) is a leading U.S.-only owner, operator, developer and acquirer of logistics properties. Through our fully integrated operating and investing platform, we provide high quality facilities and industry-leading customer service to multinational corporations and regional firms that are essential for their supply chains.