Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,490,000 shares, an increase of 56.5% from the December 15th total of 2,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,950,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROIC has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W cut Retail Opportunity Investments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Retail Opportunity Investments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $17.50 price objective (up from $16.00) on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Retail Opportunity Investments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 1,473.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,753 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Retail Opportunity Investments by 4,320.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 3,197 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,572 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 1,932 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its position in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 71.8% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 7,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the period. 97.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Retail Opportunity Investments Price Performance

Shares of ROIC stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $17.45. 1,361,064 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,842,896. Retail Opportunity Investments has a fifty-two week low of $11.87 and a fifty-two week high of $17.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.81. The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.93 and a beta of 1.46.

Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $83.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.13 million. Retail Opportunity Investments had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 4.32%. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Retail Opportunity Investments will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Retail Opportunity Investments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. Retail Opportunity Investments’s dividend payout ratio is 130.43%.

About Retail Opportunity Investments

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and management of grocery-anchored shopping centers located in densely populated, metropolitan markets across the West Coast. As of December 31, 2023, ROIC owned 94 shopping centers encompassing approximately 10.6 million square feet.