Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 1,851 Shares of American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,851 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in American Assets Trust were worth $297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Assets Trust by 142.8% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 90,078 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,407,000 after buying an additional 52,977 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of American Assets Trust by 14.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 584,529 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,619,000 after buying an additional 72,579 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Assets Trust by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,474,684 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,404,000 after buying an additional 35,688 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of American Assets Trust by 110.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 110,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,946,000 after buying an additional 57,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Assets Trust by 516.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 4,838 shares in the last quarter. 90.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Assets Trust from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of American Assets Trust from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Assets Trust

In other news, COO Adam Wyll sold 30,238 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.22, for a total transaction of $853,316.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,286,690.90. This represents a 39.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 37.32% of the company’s stock.

American Assets Trust Trading Down 0.8 %

AAT opened at $21.84 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 8.17, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Assets Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.03 and a 12 month high of $29.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 1.30.

American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.41. American Assets Trust had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 4.98%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Assets Trust, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Assets Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. This is an increase from American Assets Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. American Assets Trust’s payout ratio is currently 152.81%.

About American Assets Trust

American Assets Trust, Inc is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii.