Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FCPT) Short Interest Up 31.8% in March

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FCPT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,350,000 shares, a growth of 31.8% from the February 28th total of 4,060,000 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 768,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on FCPT shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Four Corners Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Four Corners Property Trust from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Four Corners Property Trust from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.20.

Four Corners Property Trust Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of FCPT traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $28.36. The stock had a trading volume of 373,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 587,480. The company has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 1.16. Four Corners Property Trust has a 52 week low of $22.38 and a 52 week high of $30.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.15 and a 200 day moving average of $28.35.

Four Corners Property Trust (NYSE:FCPT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.16. Four Corners Property Trust had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 37.48%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Four Corners Property Trust will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Four Corners Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Four Corners Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Four Corners Property Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Four Corners Property Trust by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,874,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,146,000 after purchasing an additional 240,230 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Four Corners Property Trust by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,072,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,395,000 after buying an additional 85,476 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Four Corners Property Trust by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,455,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,651,000 after buying an additional 98,120 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Four Corners Property Trust by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,267,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,538,000 after buying an additional 459,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Four Corners Property Trust by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,822,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,463,000 after acquiring an additional 48,319 shares in the last quarter. 98.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Four Corners Property Trust Company Profile

Four Corners Property Trust, Inc engages in the owning, acquisition, and leasing of properties for use in the restaurant and food-service related industries. It operates through the Real Estate Operations and Restaurant Operations segments. The Real Estate Operations segment consists of rental revenues generated by leasing restaurant properties.