Ethic Inc. Buys 863 Shares of Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI)

Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 863 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Sun Communities were worth $903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SUI. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Sun Communities by 263.6% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Sun Communities by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in Sun Communities by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Natixis bought a new position in Sun Communities during the fourth quarter worth about $90,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Sun Communities by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 837 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SUI. Bank of America raised their price objective on Sun Communities from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sun Communities in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Sun Communities in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Sun Communities from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Sun Communities from $142.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.70.

Sun Communities Trading Down 4.3%

SUI stock opened at $119.01 on Thursday. Sun Communities, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.22 and a 52 week high of $147.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.15. The company has a market capitalization of $15.19 billion, a PE ratio of 63.98 and a beta of 0.86.

Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.08. Sun Communities had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 3.21%. The company had revenue of $470.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.63 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sun Communities, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Communities Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Sun Communities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 606.45%.

About Sun Communities

Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada.