Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) Short Interest Up 60.7% in March

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,900,000 shares, a growth of 60.7% from the February 28th total of 3,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 872,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Urban Edge Properties by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Urban Edge Properties by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 36,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Urban Edge Properties by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 13,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Urban Edge Properties by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 29,384 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $632,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Urban Edge Properties by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on UE. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Urban Edge Properties from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Urban Edge Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th.

Urban Edge Properties Price Performance

UE traded up $0.09 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 316,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 852,407. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.16 and a beta of 1.54. Urban Edge Properties has a twelve month low of $15.81 and a twelve month high of $23.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.25. Urban Edge Properties had a net margin of 16.31% and a return on equity of 5.59%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Urban Edge Properties will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Urban Edge Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Urban Edge Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Urban Edge Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 128.81%.

Urban Edge Properties Company Profile

Urban Edge Properties is a NYSE listed real estate investment trust focused on owning, managing, acquiring, developing, and redeveloping retail real estate in urban communities, primarily in the Washington, DC to Boston corridor. Urban Edge owns 76 properties totaling 17.1 million square feet of gross leasable area.