Short Interest in Realty Income Co. (NYSE:O) Expands By 40.5%

Realty Income Co. (NYSE:O) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,520,000 shares, a growth of 40.5% from the February 13th total of 14,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in O. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Realty Income during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Realty Income during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Realty Income during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Realty Income during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Realty Income during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on O. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Realty Income from $70.00 to $66.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Realty Income from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Realty Income from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Realty Income in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Realty Income from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.04.

Realty Income Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:O opened at $57.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $50.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Realty Income has a 52 week low of $50.65 and a 52 week high of $64.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.63.

Realty Income (NYSE:O) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). Realty Income had a net margin of 17.57% and a return on equity of 2.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Realty Income will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Realty Income Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a apr 25 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.2685 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a yield of 5.7%. This is a boost from Realty Income’s previous apr 25 dividend of $0.27. Realty Income’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 328.57%.

About Realty Income

Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients.