Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) Short Interest Down 12.8% in March

Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,780,000 shares, a decline of 12.8% from the February 28th total of 11,220,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Healthcare Realty Trust from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Healthcare Realty Trust from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Healthcare Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Healthcare Realty Trust from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Healthcare Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

Healthcare Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE HR traded up $0.04 on Thursday, reaching $16.89. The stock had a trading volume of 636,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,255,416. The stock has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.49 and a beta of 0.97. Healthcare Realty Trust has a 12-month low of $13.64 and a 12-month high of $18.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.19.

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $309.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $303.81 million. Healthcare Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 51.60% and a negative return on equity of 11.20%. Healthcare Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Healthcare Realty Trust will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Healthcare Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.34%. Healthcare Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently -69.66%.

Institutional Trading of Healthcare Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HR. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Healthcare Realty Trust by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 469,323 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,955,000 after purchasing an additional 111,125 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust by 106.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 77,545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 39,975 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $440,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust by 3,419.8% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 28,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 27,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Healthcare Realty Trust in the third quarter worth $849,000.

Healthcare Realty Trust Company Profile

Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc provides real estate investment services. It owns, leases, manages, acquires, finances, develops, and redevelops income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services throughout the United States of America. The company was founded by David R.