Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE - Free Report) by 63.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,687,936 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 2,985,898 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.97% of Alexandria Real Estate Equities worth $164,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARE. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 14.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,830,000 after buying an additional 1,947 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 89.8% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities during the third quarter worth about $261,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 501.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 290,857 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $34,539,000 after purchasing an additional 242,466 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 3.8% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 85,108 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,106,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares during the period. 96.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $133.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $125.00 to $114.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $121.30.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Price Performance

ARE stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $95.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,101,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,361,801. The company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.16. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.25 and a 12-month high of $130.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $97.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.00.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 1.43%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, December 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.32 per share. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.52%. This is an increase from Alexandria Real Estate Equities's previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Alexandria Real Estate Equities's dividend payout ratio is presently 293.33%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Company Profile

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc NYSE: ARE, an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.