Principal Securities Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in STAG Industrial by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 220,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,472,000 after acquiring an additional 20,327 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 529,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,892,000 after buying an additional 15,198 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in STAG Industrial by 2.4% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 8,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at STAG Industrial

In other news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,083.20. The trade was a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on STAG shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on STAG Industrial from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, STAG Industrial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Stock Performance

Shares of STAG stock opened at $35.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.27 and a 52-week high of $41.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.25 and its 200 day moving average is $36.72.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.1242 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 4.25%. This is a boost from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 143.27%.

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.