Short Interest in Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) Decreases By 36.3%

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,860,000 shares, a decrease of 36.3% from the January 31st total of 9,200,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Americold Realty Trust news, SVP Robert E. Harris sold 1,836 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.64, for a total transaction of $41,567.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,589.68. This represents a 49.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Americold Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of COLD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Americold Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $478,674,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 28,837,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,085,000 after acquiring an additional 4,049,374 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,261,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,844,603 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 115.8% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 6,387,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427,083 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Americold Realty Trust by 253.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,213,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,761,000 after buying an additional 2,304,867 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.17.

Americold Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Americold Realty Trust stock opened at $22.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Americold Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $20.41 and a twelve month high of $30.45. The stock has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.63 and its 200 day moving average is $24.55.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $666.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.03 million. Americold Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 3.54% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Americold Realty Trust will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Americold Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. Americold Realty Trust’s payout ratio is -258.82%.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio.