Kilroy Realty Co. (NYSE:KRC) Short Interest Up 28.1% in December

Kilroy Realty Co. (NYSE:KRC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,020,000 shares, a growth of 28.1% from the December 15th total of 5,480,000 shares. Approximately 6.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Heidi Rena Roth sold 12,000 shares of Kilroy Realty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total value of $507,360.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,122,921.08. The trade was a 19.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kilroy Realty

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kilroy Realty by 1.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 26,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kilroy Realty by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Kilroy Realty by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Commerce Bank boosted its stake in shares of Kilroy Realty by 3.0% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 11,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Kilroy Realty by 33.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. 94.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Kilroy Realty from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of Kilroy Realty in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Kilroy Realty from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kilroy Realty from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Kilroy Realty from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kilroy Realty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.80.

Kilroy Realty Trading Up 1.9 %

KRC traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.97. 1,081,931 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,014,502. The company has a quick ratio of 3.08, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.94. Kilroy Realty has a 52-week low of $30.71 and a 52-week high of $43.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Kilroy Realty (NYSE:KRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.60). The company had revenue of $289.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.77 million. Kilroy Realty had a return on equity of 3.53% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kilroy Realty will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kilroy Realty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.54%. Kilroy Realty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 129.34%.

Kilroy Realty Company Profile

Kilroy Realty Corporation (NYSE: KRC, the company, Kilroy) is a leading U.S. landlord and developer, with operations in San Diego, Greater Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Seattle and Austin. The company has earned global recognition for sustainability, building operations, innovation and design.