Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 425,362 Shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 114.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 797,457 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 425,362 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $26,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in STAG Industrial by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,403,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $133,077,000 after buying an additional 21,925 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 358,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,114,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 5.6% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 52,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after purchasing an additional 2,795 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in STAG Industrial by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 220,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 20,327 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter worth $1,276,000. Institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

Shares of STAG stock opened at $32.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $35.25 and its 200-day moving average is $35.92. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.27 and a 1 year high of $41.63.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 24.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS 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 dividend yield of 4.25%. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is presently 143.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on STAG. 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 research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.38.

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 value of $1,755,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares in the company, valued at $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.