Hartford Investment Management Co. Reduces Stock Position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 11,449.8% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,423,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $169,056,000 after buying an additional 1,411,304 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 350.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 341,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,536,000 after purchasing an additional 265,508 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 501.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 290,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,539,000 after purchasing an additional 242,466 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 114.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 435,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,706,000 after purchasing an additional 232,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 315.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 169,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,110,000 after buying an additional 128,634 shares during the period. 96.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $129.00 to $124.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Alexandria Real Estate Equities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $133.00 to $121.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.30.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Stock Performance

Alexandria Real Estate Equities stock opened at $94.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a one year low of $93.25 and a one year high of $130.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $98.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a PE ratio of 52.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.16.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 expect that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, December 9th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 2.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $1.32 dividend. This is a boost from Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s payout ratio is 293.33%.

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.