Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 325 Shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) by 15.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,420 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. in the first quarter worth about $607,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 67.1% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 77,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,541,000 after buying an additional 31,189 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 240.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,170,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,971,000 after buying an additional 826,891 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 86.3% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 62,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,232,000 after buying an additional 28,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. in the second quarter worth about $2,695,000. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:PECO opened at $37.15 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.52. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.62 and a 52 week high of $39.08. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.76, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.57.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.52). Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 2.22%. The firm had revenue of $165.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.1025 per share. This is a boost from Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s previous monthly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 267.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PECO. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc (PECO) is one of the nation's largest owners and operators of omni-channel grocery-anchored shopping centers. Founded in 1991, PECO has generated strong results through its vertically-integrated operating platform and national footprint of well-occupied shopping centers.