Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on BXP. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Boston Properties from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Boston Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Boston Properties from $65.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Boston Properties from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Boston Properties from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.75.

Boston Properties Stock Performance

BXP stock opened at $79.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 5.51, a quick ratio of 4.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.70. Boston Properties has a 12-month low of $50.64 and a 12-month high of $90.11.

Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($1.28). The company had revenue of $859.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $829.91 million. Boston Properties had a net margin of 10.75% and a return on equity of 4.40%. Boston Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Boston Properties will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boston Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. Boston Properties’s payout ratio is presently 169.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Boston Properties news, EVP Peter V. Otteni sold 4,785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.44, for a total value of $351,410.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Boston Properties news, EVP Peter V. Otteni sold 4,785 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.44, for a total value of $351,410.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Raymond A. Ritchey sold 21,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.25, for a total value of $1,621,248.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Boston Properties during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,187,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Boston Properties by 76.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 110,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,786,000 after purchasing an additional 47,882 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Boston Properties during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,807,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Boston Properties during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,423,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in shares of Boston Properties by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 34,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 11,163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.72% of the company’s stock.

About Boston Properties

Boston Properties, Inc (NYSE: BXP) (BXP or the Company) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, concentrated in six dynamic gateway markets – Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP has delivered places that power progress for our clients and communities for more than 50 years.