BNP Paribas Upgrades Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) to Hold

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on COLD. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Americold Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Americold Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.42.

Americold Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of COLD stock opened at $16.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -49.57, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.55. Americold Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $16.11 and a 52 week high of $30.45.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $628.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $667.18 million. Americold Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 3.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Americold Realty Trust will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Americold Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Americold Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently -213.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George F. Jr. Chappelle acquired 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.99 per share, for a total transaction of $1,978,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,978,900. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jay Wells acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.91 per share, with a total value of $179,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $179,100. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Americold Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Xponance Inc. increased its position in Americold Realty Trust by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC increased its position in Americold Realty Trust by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 11,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Americold Realty Trust by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Americold Realty Trust by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 78,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its position in Americold Realty Trust by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 17,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. 98.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio.