Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Stake in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its stake in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,667,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,021 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $124,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter valued at $75,471,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in STAG Industrial in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,561,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in STAG Industrial by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,809,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $61,203,000 after acquiring an additional 292,252 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in STAG Industrial by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,004,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,974,000 after acquiring an additional 251,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 2,259,638 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,284 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at STAG Industrial

In other news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,083.20. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

STAG stock opened at $36.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.27 and a 52-week high of $41.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.01.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 24.64%. Equities research analysts expect that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.1242 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is currently 143.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on STAG. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James boosted their price target on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Company Profile

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.