Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.19 Per Share

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Urban Edge Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Urban Edge Properties has increased its dividend by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years. Urban Edge Properties has a payout ratio of 128.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Urban Edge Properties to earn $1.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.6%.

Urban Edge Properties Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of UE traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $21.20. The stock had a trading volume of 1,192,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 791,427. Urban Edge Properties has a 1-year low of $15.81 and a 1-year high of $23.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.25. Urban Edge Properties had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 59.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that Urban Edge Properties will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Urban Edge Properties from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey S. Olson sold 240,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.45, for a total transaction of $5,388,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,350.95. This trade represents a 99.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

About Urban Edge Properties

Urban Edge Properties is a NYSE listed real estate investment trust focused on owning, managing, acquiring, developing, and redeveloping retail real estate in urban communities, primarily in the Washington, DC to Boston corridor. Urban Edge owns 76 properties totaling 17.1 million square feet of gross leasable area.