Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) Raised to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $138.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous target price of $125.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Camden Property Trust from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Camden Property Trust from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised Camden Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Camden Property Trust from $129.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Camden Property Trust from $127.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Camden Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $127.76.

Camden Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CPT opened at $122.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.45, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.94. Camden Property Trust has a twelve month low of $94.75 and a twelve month high of $127.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $118.57 and a 200 day moving average of $119.20.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.05. Camden Property Trust had a return on equity of 3.35% and a net margin of 10.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Camden Property Trust will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Camden Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. This is a boost from Camden Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Camden Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 280.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Heather J. Brunner sold 264 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.06, for a total value of $29,055.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,646.38. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard J. Campo sold 1,043 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.06, for a total value of $114,792.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,918,065.52. The trade was a 0.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,548 shares of company stock worth $2,912,212. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Camden Property Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Camden Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $187,606,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Camden Property Trust by 86.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,974,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $243,952,000 after acquiring an additional 918,078 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Camden Property Trust by 508.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 946,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $116,911,000 after purchasing an additional 790,974 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Camden Property Trust by 97.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,279,266 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $158,028,000 after purchasing an additional 630,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Camden Property Trust by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,968,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $344,432,000 after purchasing an additional 438,685 shares during the period. 97.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Camden Property Trust Company Profile

Camden Property Trust, an S&P 500 Company, is a real estate company primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, and construction of multifamily apartment communities. Camden owns and operates 172 properties containing 58,250 apartment homes across the United States.