Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE:BXP) Short Interest Update

Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE:BXP) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,300,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the December 31st total of 6,850,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boston Properties

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BXP. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in Boston Properties by 4.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 296,354 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,018 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Boston Properties by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 133,871 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,771,000 after buying an additional 3,502 shares during the period. Sun Life Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Boston Properties during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,674,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Boston Properties by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,898,000 after acquiring an additional 11,752 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Boston Properties by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 70,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Boston Properties in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut Boston Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Boston Properties from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Compass Point raised shares of Boston Properties from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Boston Properties from $64.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.23.

Boston Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:BXP opened at $71.48 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.51, a current ratio of 5.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.30 billion, a PE ratio of 716.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.18. Boston Properties has a twelve month low of $56.46 and a twelve month high of $90.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.76.

Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $1.28. Boston Properties had a net margin of 0.38% and a return on equity of 3.90%. On average, analysts anticipate that Boston Properties will post 6.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Boston Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Boston Properties’s payout ratio is 3,920.39%.

About Boston Properties

Boston Properties, Inc (NYSE: BXP) (BXP or the Company) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, concentrated in six dynamic gateway markets – Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP has delivered places that power progress for our clients and communities for more than 50 years.