Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 17,437 Shares of SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE:SLG)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE:SLG) by 196.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,437 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in SL Green Realty were worth $1,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in SL Green Realty by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,830,293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $735,594,000 after acquiring an additional 564,822 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SL Green Realty by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,428,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $96,990,000 after purchasing an additional 159,870 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SL Green Realty by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 807,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,866,000 after purchasing an additional 101,691 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SL Green Realty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,050,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in SL Green Realty by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 534,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,280,000 after buying an additional 9,299 shares during the period. 89.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig M. Hatkoff sold 3,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.30, for a total transaction of $229,066.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,052 shares in the company, valued at $136,047.60. The trade was a 62.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SL Green Realty Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SLG opened at $49.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 621.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.43 and a 200 day moving average of $67.37. SL Green Realty Corp. has a 1-year low of $45.15 and a 1-year high of $82.81.

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $1.90. SL Green Realty had a net margin of 2.48% and a negative return on equity of 0.10%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SL Green Realty Corp. will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SL Green Realty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. This is a positive change from SL Green Realty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. SL Green Realty’s payout ratio is presently 3,862.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of SL Green Realty from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of SL Green Realty from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on SL Green Realty from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Mizuho increased their price target on SL Green Realty from $45.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on SL Green Realty in a research note on Monday, March 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.87.

SL Green Realty Company Profile

3SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan’s largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of June 30, 2022, SL Green held interests in 64 buildings totaling 34.4 million square feet.