American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (NYSE:AHR) Short Interest Up 30.0% in August

American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (NYSE:AHR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,510,000 shares, an increase of 30.0% from the August 15th total of 3,470,000 shares. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AHR. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Healthcare REIT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,317,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Healthcare REIT in the first quarter valued at $914,000. Centersquare Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of American Healthcare REIT in the first quarter valued at about $63,269,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Healthcare REIT in the first quarter valued at about $1,201,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in shares of American Healthcare REIT during the 1st quarter worth about $2,967,000. Institutional investors own 16.68% of the company’s stock.

American Healthcare REIT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AHR traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $24.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,881,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,214,613. American Healthcare REIT has a 1-year low of $12.63 and a 1-year high of $25.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.77.

American Healthcare REIT (NYSE:AHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $504.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $506.55 million. American Healthcare REIT had a negative net margin of 1.99% and a negative return on equity of 2.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Healthcare REIT will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

American Healthcare REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of American Healthcare REIT from $19.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of American Healthcare REIT from $17.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp increased their target price on American Healthcare REIT from $16.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities boosted their price target on American Healthcare REIT from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Healthcare REIT from $17.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.38.

About American Healthcare REIT

Formed by the successful merger of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III and Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, as well as the acquisition of the business and operations of American Healthcare Investors, American Healthcare REIT is one of the larger healthcare-focused real estate investment trusts globally with assets totaling approximately $4.2 billion in gross investment value.