Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Takes Position in Agree Realty Co. (NYSE:ADC)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Agree Realty Co. (NYSE:ADC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 7,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADC. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Agree Realty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $411,000. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 27,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after buying an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Agree Realty by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,751 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,258,000 after acquiring an additional 10,446 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Agree Realty by 37.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,646,526 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,693,000 after purchasing an additional 990,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Agree Realty in the 4th quarter valued at about $329,000. 97.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Agree Realty Trading Up 1.3%

Agree Realty stock opened at $74.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.07, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.69 and its 200-day moving average is $74.08. Agree Realty Co. has a 1 year low of $58.52 and a 1 year high of $79.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Agree Realty (NYSE:ADC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $169.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.77 million. Agree Realty had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 3.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Agree Realty Co. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Agree Realty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.256 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from Agree Realty’s previous monthly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $3.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Agree Realty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 173.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ADC. BTIG Research lowered shares of Agree Realty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Agree Realty from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays raised shares of Agree Realty from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Agree Realty from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Agree Realty from $81.00 to $82.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.04.

About Agree Realty

Agree Realty Corporation is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that is RETHINKING RETAIL through the acquisition and development of properties net leased to industry-leading, omni-channel retail tenants. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned and operated a portfolio of 2,135 properties, located in 49 states and containing approximately 44.2 million square feet of gross leasable area.