Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) Short Interest Up 6.1% in October

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,600,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the September 30th total of 7,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Americold Realty Trust Price Performance

COLD stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,093,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,159,212. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.89 and a 200 day moving average of $26.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Americold Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $21.87 and a fifty-two week high of $30.92.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.54). The company had revenue of $660.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.74 million. Americold Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 10.60% and a negative return on equity of 7.74%. Americold Realty Trust’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Americold Realty Trust will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Americold Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Americold Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -87.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COLD. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 134.1% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,105,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,551,000 after buying an additional 633,335 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 5.6% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 135,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,368,000 after purchasing an additional 7,213 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Americold Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at $220,000. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Americold Realty Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $526,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Americold Realty Trust by 65.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 245,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,125,000 after purchasing an additional 97,601 shares in the last quarter. 98.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Americold Realty Trust from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Americold Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Americold Realty Trust from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Americold Realty Trust from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.18.

Americold Realty Trust Company Profile

Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 245 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America.