Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Stock Position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 11,449.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,423,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $169,056,000 after buying an additional 1,411,304 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 350.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 341,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,536,000 after acquiring an additional 265,508 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 501.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 290,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,539,000 after acquiring an additional 242,466 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 114.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 435,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,706,000 after purchasing an additional 232,817 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 315.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 169,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,110,000 after purchasing an additional 128,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $129.00 to $124.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.30.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Price Performance

ARE stock opened at $94.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.25 and a 1 year high of $130.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $98.70 and a 200 day moving average of $109.51. The company has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.16.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a return on equity of 1.43% and a net margin of 10.36%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.34 EPS for the current year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, December 9th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $1.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. This is a positive change from Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 293.33%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Company Profile

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.