Healthcare Realty Trust’s (HR) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) in a report issued on Thursday morning,RTT News reports. They currently have a $16.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on HR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded 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 research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Healthcare Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.40.

Healthcare Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HR opened at $16.60 on Thursday. Healthcare Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $12.77 and a fifty-two week high of $18.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.67 and its 200 day moving average is $17.41.

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $309.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Healthcare Realty Trust will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Healthcare Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Healthcare Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -69.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert E. Hull sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $174,800.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 171,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,996,072. This represents a 5.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Healthcare Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HR. Starboard Value LP acquired a new position in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $342,110,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Healthcare Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $76,825,000. Rush Island Management LP increased its holdings in Healthcare Realty Trust by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Rush Island Management LP now owns 15,681,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $265,800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,747,848 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new stake in Healthcare Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $39,337,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Healthcare Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,392,000.

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.