City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) Short Interest Update

City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 275,400 shares, a drop of 10.0% from the October 15th total of 306,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 181,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of City Office REIT

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of City Office REIT by 2,225.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,279 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 5,052 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of City Office REIT during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of City Office REIT during the second quarter valued at $72,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of City Office REIT during the second quarter valued at $83,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in City Office REIT in the 3rd quarter worth about $95,000. 67.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

City Office REIT Stock Performance

Shares of CIO traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $4.87. 159,405 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 210,841. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.39. City Office REIT has a 1 year low of $4.02 and a 1 year high of $6.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 2.42.

City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $42.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.02 million. City Office REIT had a negative return on equity of 1.48% and a negative net margin of 5.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that City Office REIT will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

City Office REIT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.21%. City Office REIT’s payout ratio is -95.24%.

About City Office REIT

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S.