Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) Shares Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) by 10.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 228,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.95% of Saul Centers worth $8,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BFS. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Saul Centers by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 10,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Saul Centers by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Saul Centers by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 8,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Saul Centers by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 9,132 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 2,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Saul Centers by 12.2% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. 49.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Saul Centers Trading Up 1.0 %

Saul Centers stock opened at $41.43 on Wednesday. Saul Centers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.56 and a 1 year high of $41.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.85. The firm has a market cap of $993.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.40, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.29). Saul Centers had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $66.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.54 million. On average, research analysts predict that Saul Centers, Inc. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saul Centers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Saul Centers’s payout ratio is 136.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Saul Centers from $43.50 to $45.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties.