Short Interest in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) Grows By 26.0%

STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,020,000 shares, an increase of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 3,190,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STAG has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James lifted their target price on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of STAG Industrial stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.44. 1,295,934 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,350,647. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $34.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.32. The stock has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07 and a beta of 1.05. STAG Industrial has a 12-month low of $32.27 and a 12-month high of $41.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

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STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. As a group, analysts forecast that STAG Industrial will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This is a boost from STAG Industrial's previous dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 4.25%. STAG Industrial's payout ratio is presently 143.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of STAG Industrial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STAG. FMR LLC raised its position in STAG Industrial by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,024,946 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088,839 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,795,425 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $128,361,000 after purchasing an additional 235,622 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,679,641 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $124,445,000 after purchasing an additional 204,948 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in STAG Industrial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,421,549 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $115,748,000 after buying an additional 18,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in STAG Industrial by 7.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,169,164 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $123,883,000 after buying an additional 227,629 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About STAG Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.