Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 175,000 Shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 426.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 216,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 175,000 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.12% of STAG Industrial worth $7,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,024,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in STAG Industrial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,421,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,748,000 after purchasing an additional 18,009 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC grew its stake in STAG Industrial by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 2,259,638 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,284 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter worth $75,471,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in STAG Industrial by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,830,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $61,905,000 after buying an additional 79,762 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STAG has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,083.20. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

Shares of STAG opened at $32.88 on Monday. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.89 and a twelve month high of $41.63. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.25 and a 200 day moving average of $35.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 24.64%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.1242 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 4.25%. This is a boost from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 143.27%.

STAG Industrial Company Profile

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.