Short Interest in Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) Expands By 22.0%

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,850,000 shares, a growth of 22.0% from the March 15th total of 17,910,000 shares. Currently, 13.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DEI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Douglas Emmett from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Douglas Emmett in a research report on Monday, March 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Douglas Emmett in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Douglas Emmett from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Douglas Emmett from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Douglas Emmett currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

Douglas Emmett Stock Performance

Douglas Emmett stock traded down $0.44 on Monday, hitting $13.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,681,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,701,348. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.24 and a beta of 1.09. Douglas Emmett has a one year low of $12.39 and a one year high of $20.50. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.44. Douglas Emmett had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 2.38%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Douglas Emmett will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Douglas Emmett Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. Douglas Emmett’s dividend payout ratio is 584.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Douglas Emmett by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,171,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,312,000 after purchasing an additional 26,961 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Douglas Emmett by 130.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,684,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,348 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Douglas Emmett during the fourth quarter worth approximately $412,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Douglas Emmett by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 811,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,064,000 after purchasing an additional 22,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Douglas Emmett in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. 97.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Douglas Emmett

Douglas Emmett, Inc (DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu. Douglas Emmett focuses on owning and acquiring a substantial share of top-tier office properties and premier multifamily communities in neighborhoods that possess significant supply constraints, high-end executive housing and key lifestyle amenities.