Saul Centers (BFS) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties. Over 85% of the Company's property operating income is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington, DC/Baltimore area.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $39.16 to $39.75
• 50-Day Range: $38.72 to $42.01
• 52-Week Range: $34.87 to $42.39
• Volume: 45,978 shs
• Average Volume: 41,948 shs
• Market Capitalization: $953.02 million
• P/E Ratio: 21.43
• Dividend Yield: 5.99%
• Price Target: $45.50
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Saul Centers Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Saul Centers scored higher than 80% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 289th out of 963 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

Saul Centers has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 1 buy rating, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Saul Centers has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: -6.41%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Saul Centers are expected to decrease by -6.41% in the coming year, from $3.12 to $2.92 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Saul Centers is 21.43, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 110.97.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Saul Centers is 21.43, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 26.18.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Saul Centers has a P/B Ratio of 2.94. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.66% of the float of Saul Centers has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Saul Centers has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Saul Centers has recently decreased by 8.36%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Leadership

Saul Centers is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 5.99%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Saul Centers does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Saul Centers is 128.26%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on EPS estimates, Saul Centers will have a dividend payout ratio of 80.82% in the coming year. This indicates that Saul Centers may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.66% of the float of Saul Centers has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Saul Centers has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Saul Centers has recently decreased by 8.36%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.19

News Sentiment

Saul Centers has a news sentiment score of 1.19. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.68 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for Saul Centers this week, compared to 1 article on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Saul Centers insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $4,650.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

56.57% of the stock of Saul Centers is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

49.99% of the stock of Saul Centers is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

BFS Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have BFS shares performed this year?

Saul Centers' stock was trading at $39.27 at the beginning of 2024. Since then, BFS shares have increased by 0.4% and is now trading at $39.43.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Saul Centers' earnings last quarter?

Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August, 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.29. The real estate investment trust earned $66.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $65.54 million. Saul Centers had a net margin of 20.84% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 17.16%.

Who are Saul Centers' major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Saul Centers include Principal Financial Group Inc. (2.92%), State Street Corp (2.04%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.23%) and Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (0.43%). Insiders that own company stock include B Francis Saul II, David Todd Pearson, Zachary Maxwell Friedlis, James Page Lansdale, Carlos Lawrence Heard, H Gregory Platts, George Patrick Clancy Jr, John E Chapoton, Mark Sullivan III and Joel Albert Friedman.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Saul Centers?

Shares of BFS stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Saul Centers own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Saul Centers investors own include Tesla (TSLA), Meta Platforms (META), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), NVIDIA (NVDA), Home Depot (HD), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Netflix (NFLX).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/01/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 10/31 Dividend: 10/15/2024
• Dividend Payable: 10/31/2024
• Today: 11/17/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 3/06/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Real estate investment trusts
• Sub-Industry: Retail REITs
• Current Symbol: NYSE:BFS
• CUSIP: 80439510
• CIK: 907254
• Web: www.saulcenters.com
• Phone: (301) 986-6200
• Fax: 301-986-6079
• Employees: 132
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $45.50
• High Stock Price Target: $45.50
• Low Stock Price Target: $45.50
• Potential Upside/Downside: +15.4%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $1.84
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 21.43
• Forward P/E Ratio: 12.64
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $52.69 million
• Net Margins: 20.84%
• Pretax Margin: 27.89%
• Return on Equity: 17.16%
• Return on Assets: 2.72%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 4.61
• Current Ratio: 1.13
• Quick Ratio: 1.13

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $257.21 million
• Price / Sales: 3.71
• Cash Flow: $4.32 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 9.13
• Book Value: $13.39 per share
• Price / Book: 2.94

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 24,170,000
• Free Float: 10,497,000
• Market Cap: $953.02 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.11