Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ALEX. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alexander & Baldwin from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alexander & Baldwin in a research note on Monday, January 6th.

Alexander & Baldwin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALEX opened at $18.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.65. Alexander & Baldwin has a 52-week low of $15.53 and a 52-week high of $20.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.12 and a beta of 1.29.

Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. Alexander & Baldwin had a net margin of 19.64% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The firm had revenue of $62.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.68 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alexander & Baldwin will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alexander & Baldwin Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Alexander & Baldwin’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%. Alexander & Baldwin’s payout ratio is currently 145.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alexander & Baldwin

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alexander & Baldwin by 284.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Alexander & Baldwin by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alexander & Baldwin by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 727 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in Alexander & Baldwin by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Alexander & Baldwin by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,338 shares during the period. 91.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Alexander & Baldwin

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc engages in the real estate business. It operates through the Commercial Real Estate and Land Operations segments. The Commercial Real Estate segment includes investments and acquisitions, construction and development, and in-house leasing and property management. The Land Operations segment consists of legacy landholdings, assets, and liabilities subject to the company’s simplification and monetization effort.