SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) Cut to Strong Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on SLG. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SL Green Realty from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of SL Green Realty from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of SL Green Realty from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of SL Green Realty from $38.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of SL Green Realty in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.15.

SL Green Realty Stock Performance

Shares of SLG stock opened at $55.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 3.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.28 and a 200 day moving average of $44.58. SL Green Realty has a 1 year low of $34.77 and a 1 year high of $66.29.

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by $0.21. SL Green Realty had a negative return on equity of 4.37% and a negative net margin of 16.92%.The business had revenue of $264.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that SL Green Realty will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

SL Green Realty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.6175 dividend. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. SL Green Realty’s dividend payout ratio is currently -90.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SL Green Realty

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in SL Green Realty during the second quarter worth $706,881,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in SL Green Realty during the fourth quarter valued at $121,675,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in SL Green Realty in the second quarter valued at $58,202,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of SL Green Realty by 62.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,918,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $133,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,357 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of SL Green Realty in the fourth quarter worth about $44,094,000. 89.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About SL Green Realty

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on the acquisition, management and development of commercial office properties in Manhattan. As one of New York City’s largest office landlords, the company’s portfolio includes Class A office buildings and mixed-use projects located in prime Midtown and Downtown submarkets. SL Green generates revenue through leasing office space to a diverse mix of tenants spanning financial services, technology, media and professional services firms.

Founded in 1980 by real estate investor Stephen L.