Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $12.00 to $11.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an underperform rating on the stock. Easterly Government Properties traded as low as $10.38 and last traded at $10.48, with a volume of 1507777 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.77.

DEA has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Easterly Government Properties from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Easterly Government Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Easterly Government Properties from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Insider Activity

In other Easterly Government Properties news, CEO Darrell W. Crate acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.91 per share, for a total transaction of $109,100.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 171,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,870,835.89. The trade was a 6.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Easterly Government Properties

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DEA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,159,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,773,000 after purchasing an additional 44,202 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,839,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,298,000 after buying an additional 66,663 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,572,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,230,000 after buying an additional 19,858 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,258,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,657,000 after buying an additional 97,286 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Easterly Government Properties by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,056,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,359,000 after acquiring an additional 673,270 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Easterly Government Properties Stock Down 2.7 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.18 and a 200 day moving average of $12.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 4.01 and a quick ratio of 4.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.14 and a beta of 0.73.

Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $78.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.49 million. Easterly Government Properties had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 6.25%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Easterly Government Properties, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Easterly Government Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Easterly Government Properties’s payout ratio is 557.89%.

Easterly Government Properties Company Profile

Easterly Government Properties, Inc (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, DC, and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly’s experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S.