First Eagle Investment Management LLC Acquires 178,426 Shares of UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) by 90.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 375,919 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 178,426 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.48% of UMH Properties worth $7,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in UMH Properties by 261.1% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,477 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in UMH Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $675,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in UMH Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $476,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in UMH Properties by 3.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 75,287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in UMH Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $320,000. 75.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on UMH shares. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of UMH Properties in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of UMH Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.25.

UMH Properties Stock Performance

Shares of UMH opened at $18.03 on Friday. UMH Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.73 and a 12 month high of $20.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.68, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 8.48, a quick ratio of 8.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.21. UMH Properties had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 6.06%. The business had revenue of ($126.74) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.73 million. Research analysts forecast that UMH Properties, Inc. will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UMH Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.215 per share. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. UMH Properties’s payout ratio is 2,866.67%.

UMH Properties Profile

UMH Properties, Inc, which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.