Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Stock Holdings in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 11,517 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 145.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,936,107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,132,000 after buying an additional 4,111,268 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in STAG Industrial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,561,000. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC increased its stake in STAG Industrial by 19.8% during the third quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 1,063,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,588,000 after acquiring an additional 175,993 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in STAG Industrial by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 2,259,638 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $76,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,284 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,084,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,670,000 after purchasing an additional 146,942 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of STAG Industrial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on STAG. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on 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. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.38.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

Shares of STAG stock opened at $35.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.08. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a one year low of $32.27 and a one year high of $41.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.1242 dividend. This is an increase from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is presently 143.27%.

STAG Industrial Profile

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.