Sit Investment Associates Inc. Grows Position in CareTrust REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRE)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of CareTrust REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRE) by 77.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 317,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 138,035 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in CareTrust REIT were worth $8,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CTRE. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of CareTrust REIT in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in CareTrust REIT by 98.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of CareTrust REIT by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,808 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of CareTrust REIT by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of CareTrust REIT by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 87.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CTRE has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on CareTrust REIT from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut CareTrust REIT from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of CareTrust REIT in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of CareTrust REIT from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of CareTrust REIT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CareTrust REIT presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.00.

CareTrust REIT Stock Down 3.0 %

CTRE opened at $27.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.52. CareTrust REIT, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.26 and a 52 week high of $33.15. The company has a quick ratio of 3.82, a current ratio of 3.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

CareTrust REIT (NASDAQ:CTRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). CareTrust REIT had a return on equity of 5.59% and a net margin of 42.22%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CareTrust REIT, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CareTrust REIT Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.335 dividend. This is a boost from CareTrust REIT’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. CareTrust REIT’s payout ratio is presently 169.62%.

About CareTrust REIT

CareTrust REIT, Inc’s (CareTrust REIT or the Company) primary business consists of acquiring, financing, developing and owning real property to be leased to third-party tenants in the healthcare sector. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned directly or through a joint venture and leased to independent operators, 228 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), multi-service campuses, assisted living facilities (ALFs) and independent living facilities (ILFs) consisting of 24,189 operational beds and units located in 29 states with the highest concentration of properties by rental income located in California and Texas.