Quadrature Capital Ltd Buys New Position in Regency Centers Co. (NASDAQ:REG)

Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Regency Centers Co. (NASDAQ:REG – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 4,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Regency Centers by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,552,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,252,000 after buying an additional 425,589 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regency Centers by 1.2% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,146,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,325,000 after purchasing an additional 203,115 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Regency Centers by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,197,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $730,728,000 after purchasing an additional 274,043 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Regency Centers by 1.7% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,528,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,915,000 after purchasing an additional 94,215 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Regency Centers by 6.1% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,934,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,960,000 after purchasing an additional 225,068 shares during the period. 88.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Regency Centers

In related news, CEO Lisa Palmer sold 15,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.58, for a total transaction of $995,504.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,951,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on REG. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Regency Centers from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Regency Centers from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Regency Centers from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Regency Centers presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.27.

Regency Centers Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:REG opened at $58.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.45. Regency Centers Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.97 and a fifty-two week high of $73.41. The firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.15.

Regency Centers (NASDAQ:REG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98. The company had revenue of $314.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $305.23 million. Regency Centers had a net margin of 39.45% and a return on equity of 7.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Regency Centers Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regency Centers announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 9th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Regency Centers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. Regency Centers’s payout ratio is 92.20%.

About Regency Centers

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Regency Centers Corp. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership, operation, and development of retail shopping centers. Its portfolio includes thriving properties merchandised with highly productive grocers, restaurants, service providers, and best-in-class retailers that connect to its neighborhoods, communities, and customers.