Prudential Financial Inc. Increases Stock Position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,809,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 292,252 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.99% of STAG Industrial worth $61,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of STAG. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in STAG Industrial during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hilltop National Bank grew its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Aew Capital Management L P raised its holdings in shares of STAG Industrial by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 3,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter worth $109,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

STAG stock opened at $34.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.17. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.27 and a 52-week high of $41.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.16 and a beta of 1.05.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at STAG Industrial

In other STAG Industrial news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,083.20. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STAG has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.38.

About STAG Industrial

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.