First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,580,000 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the September 30th total of 1,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Industrial Realty Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FR. Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 256.4% in the second quarter. Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC now owns 808,212 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $38,398,000 after purchasing an additional 581,472 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 328.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 750,189 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $39,413,000 after acquiring an additional 575,057 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,755,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in First Industrial Realty Trust by 442.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 559,132 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,570,000 after purchasing an additional 456,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its position in First Industrial Realty Trust by 479.8% during the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 486,178 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,544,000 after purchasing an additional 402,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.85% of the company's stock.

First Industrial Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of First Industrial Realty Trust stock traded down $0.74 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 645,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,106,926. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. First Industrial Realty Trust has a one year low of $40.58 and a one year high of $57.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69 and a beta of 1.08.

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.08. First Industrial Realty Trust had a return on equity of 11.53% and a net margin of 47.34%. The business had revenue of $167.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Industrial Realty Trust will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Industrial Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. First Industrial Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on FR. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.92.

First Industrial Realty Trust Company Profile

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.

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