Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 10,750 Shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,750 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $2,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of STAG. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in STAG Industrial by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 275,473 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,316,000 after purchasing an additional 32,940 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in STAG Industrial by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 137,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,634,000 after purchasing an additional 29,571 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in STAG Industrial by 448.6% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 79,387 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,916 shares during the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC raised its position in STAG Industrial by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 31,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 7,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in STAG Industrial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,561,000. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

STAG Industrial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE STAG opened at $36.41 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.49. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.27 and a fifty-two week high of $41.63. The company has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. Analysts expect that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. This is a positive change from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. STAG Industrial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 143.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,083.20. The trade was a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on STAG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut their price objective on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.38.

About STAG Industrial

STAG Industrial, Inc is a real estate investment company, which engages in acquiring, owning, and managing single-tenant, industrial real estate assets. It offers industrial real estate operating platform to real estate ownership. The company was founded by Benjamin S. Butcher on July 21, 2010 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.