Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases 175,000 Shares of STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) by 426.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 216,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 175,000 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in STAG Industrial were worth $7,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Hilltop National Bank boosted its stake in STAG Industrial by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in STAG Industrial by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Aew Capital Management L P raised its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 3,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of STAG Industrial in the fourth quarter worth $109,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

STAG Industrial Trading Down 3.7 %

STAG stock opened at $32.88 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. STAG Industrial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.89 and a twelve month high of $41.63.

STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.43. STAG Industrial had a net margin of 24.64% and a return on equity of 5.51%. As a group, analysts anticipate that STAG Industrial, Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

STAG Industrial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.1242 per share. This is a positive change from STAG Industrial’s previous dividend of $0.12. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. STAG Industrial’s payout ratio is currently 143.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on STAG Industrial from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.38.

Insider Transactions at STAG Industrial

In other STAG Industrial news, Director Benjamin S. Butcher sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,632 shares in the company, valued at $338,083.20. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.