Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) Short Interest Down 5.1% in February

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 11,560,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the February 13th total of 12,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.8 days. Currently, 8.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Empire State Realty Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,928 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 27,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 28,134 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 2,058 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 2,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of Empire State Realty Trust by 113.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 5,069 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. 76.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Empire State Realty Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ESRT opened at $6.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.17, a current ratio of 7.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Empire State Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $6.24 and a 52-week high of $10.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Empire State Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. Empire State Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ESRT. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Empire State Realty Trust from $7.25 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Empire State Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Empire State Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $9.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Empire State Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $9.25 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Empire State Realty Trust from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Empire State Realty Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.15.

Empire State Realty Trust Company Profile

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Empire State Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning, managing, acquiring, and repositioning office and retail properties. It operates through the Real Estate and Observatory segments. The Real Estate segment includes ownership, management, operation, acquisition, repositioning, and disposition of real estate assets.