Sandy Spring Bank Sells 815 Shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Sandy Spring Bank decreased its position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 815 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $482,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 77.7% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 16,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,070 shares during the last quarter. Hahn Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 50.4% in the 4th quarter. Hahn Capital Management LLC now owns 68,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,669,000 after purchasing an additional 22,926 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 841,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,023,000 after purchasing an additional 32,367 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 903,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $88,140,000 after acquiring an additional 42,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 69,445 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 8,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ARE. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $125.00 to $114.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.60.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARE opened at $96.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.25 and a fifty-two week high of $130.14.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 1.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.49%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s dividend payout ratio is 293.33%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.