First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the August 31st total of 1,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Industrial Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its position in First Industrial Realty Trust by 4.8% during the second quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its position in First Industrial Realty Trust by 4.6% during the second quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 9,868 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 781.7% during the 1st quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 529 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,607 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on First Industrial Realty Trust from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on First Industrial Realty Trust from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on First Industrial Realty Trust from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.46.

First Industrial Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of First Industrial Realty Trust stock traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $55.11. The company had a trading volume of 712,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,073,422. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. First Industrial Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $40.44 and a 1-year high of $57.35. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.96.

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $164.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.48 million. First Industrial Realty Trust had a net margin of 44.46% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Industrial Realty Trust will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

First Industrial Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. First Industrial Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 68.20%.

About First Industrial Realty Trust

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FR) is a leading U.S.-only owner, operator, developer and acquirer of logistics properties. Through our fully integrated operating and investing platform, we provide high quality facilities and industry-leading customer service to multinational corporations and regional firms that are essential for their supply chains.