Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in STAG. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 359,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,159,000 after buying an additional 8,259 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in STAG Industrial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 14,605 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. grew its position in STAG Industrial by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 14,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in STAG Industrial by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,830,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $61,905,000 after acquiring an additional 79,762 shares during the period. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in STAG Industrial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $843,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STAG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James increased their price target on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

STAG opened at $35.17 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81 and a beta of 1.09. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.27 and a twelve month high of $41.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 24.64%. Equities research analysts expect that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This represents a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 143.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at STAG Industrial

In other STAG Industrial news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About STAG Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.