VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys 15,700 Shares of Agree Realty Corporation $ADC

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its stake in Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC) by 12.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 146,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 15,700 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Agree Realty were worth $9,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Agree Realty in the 2nd quarter worth $1,447,551,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Agree Realty by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,526,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $341,180,000 after buying an additional 232,532 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Agree Realty by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,771,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $133,498,000 after acquiring an additional 89,009 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Agree Realty during the 2nd quarter worth $130,921,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Agree Realty during the 2nd quarter worth $104,747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Agree Realty from $85.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Agree Realty from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Huntington initiated coverage on Agree Realty in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Agree Realty from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Agree Realty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Rakolta, Jr. acquired 20,000 shares of Agree Realty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.78 per share, with a total value of $1,375,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 654,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,023,525.56. This represents a 3.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joey Agree acquired 7,360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.06 per share, for a total transaction of $500,921.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 682,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,448,567.90. This trade represents a 1.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired 48,496 shares of company stock valued at $3,418,670 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Agree Realty Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ADC opened at $67.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.42. Agree Realty Corporation has a one year low of $64.34 and a one year high of $82.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Agree Realty (NYSE:ADC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.68. Agree Realty had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 4.00%. The firm had revenue of $213.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Agree Realty Corporation will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agree Realty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.2710 dividend. This is a boost from Agree Realty’s previous monthly dividend of $0.2670. This represents a $3.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Agree Realty’s payout ratio is presently 164.95%.

About Agree Realty

Agree Realty Corporation is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, and manages retail properties across the United States. The company primarily uses a net-lease structure, under which tenants generally are responsible for property-level operating expenses such as taxes, insurance, and maintenance.

Its portfolio is focused mainly on essential retail properties occupied by nationally recognized and regional tenants, including grocery stores, home improvement retailers, dollar stores, pharmacies, and other necessity-based businesses.