Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Trims Stake in UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its holdings in UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,979 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in UDR were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of UDR by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,809,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,205,650,000 after purchasing an additional 180,551 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in UDR by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,401,026 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $516,923,000 after buying an additional 1,471,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of UDR by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,774,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $352,498,000 after buying an additional 368,087 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of UDR by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,367,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $189,574,000 after buying an additional 95,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of UDR by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 3,163,812 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $137,341,000 after acquiring an additional 228,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.84% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on UDR shares. Zelman & Associates reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of UDR in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on UDR from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on UDR from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of UDR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of UDR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UDR presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.12.

UDR Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of UDR stock opened at $44.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.61, a quick ratio of 5.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. UDR, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.14 and a 12-month high of $47.55. The company has a market cap of $14.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.22, a PEG ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.77.

UDR (NYSE:UDR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.53. UDR had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 2.65%. Research analysts anticipate that UDR, Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

UDR Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from UDR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. UDR’s payout ratio is currently 688.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Thomas W. Toomey sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $1,068,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 824,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,256,609. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About UDR

UDR, Inc (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate communities in targeted U.S.