Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) Short Interest Up 22.6% in September

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a growth of 22.6% from the August 31st total of 1,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 655,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 30,292 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total transaction of $3,519,021.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,020.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 30,292 shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total transaction of $3,519,021.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,020.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 5,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.47, for a total value of $691,482.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Realty Investment Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 2.0% in the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $188,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 1.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 21,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,216,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Federal Realty Investment Trust by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 46,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup upgraded Federal Realty Investment Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust from $122.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.85.

Federal Realty Investment Trust Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE FRT traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $114.95. 719,728 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 628,689. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Federal Realty Investment Trust has a one year low of $85.59 and a one year high of $118.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $113.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.67. The company has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.24.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($0.36). Federal Realty Investment Trust had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 24.69%. The firm had revenue of $295.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Federal Realty Investment Trust will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federal Realty Investment Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Federal Realty Investment Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.09. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Federal Realty Investment Trust’s payout ratio is presently 156.58%.

Federal Realty Investment Trust Company Profile

Federal Realty is a recognized leader in the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality retail-based properties located primarily in major coastal markets from Washington, DC to Boston as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Founded in 1962, Federal Realty's mission is to deliver long-term, sustainable growth through investing in communities where retail demand exceeds supply.