Short Interest in Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) Rises By 14.1%

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,990,000 shares, an increase of 14.1% from the June 30th total of 5,250,000 shares. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 967,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Empire State Realty Trust by 8.5% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the period. Vert Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 54,897 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,297 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,776 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 271,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,763 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 67.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ESRT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Empire State Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Empire State Realty Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Empire State Realty Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.25.

Empire State Realty Trust Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ESRT traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $10.69. 1,817,586 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,077,684. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.66. Empire State Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $7.25 and a 52-week high of $11.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.40.

Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.14). Empire State Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.57% and a net margin of 5.89%. The company had revenue of $189.54 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Empire State Realty Trust will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Empire State Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.035 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Empire State Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 46.67%.

Empire State Realty Trust Company Profile

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESRT) is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and operates a portfolio of modernized, amenitized, and well-located office, retail, and multifamily assets. The company is the recognized leader in energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. ESRT's flagship Empire State Building – the "World's Most Famous Building" – includes its Observatory, Tripadvisor's 2023 Travelers' Choice Awards: Best of the Best the #1 attraction in the US for two consecutive years.