STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) Short Interest Up 26.0% in February

STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,020,000 shares, a growth of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 3,190,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Insider Transactions at STAG Industrial

In related news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On STAG Industrial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of STAG Industrial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of STAG Industrial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of STAG Industrial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Hilltop National Bank lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on STAG. Raymond James boosted their target price on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Stock Down 1.1 %

STAG stock opened at $35.42 on Wednesday. STAG Industrial has a fifty-two week low of $32.27 and a fifty-two week high of $41.63. The business’s 50-day moving average is $34.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05 and a beta of 1.05.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 24.64%. As a group, analysts forecast that STAG Industrial will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This represents a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 143.27%.

STAG Industrial Company Profile

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.