Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) Shares Cross Above 200 Day Moving Average of $36.90

Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $36.90 and traded as high as $37.48. Saul Centers shares last traded at $37.26, with a volume of 23,959 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BFS. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Saul Centers in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. B. Riley lifted their price target on Saul Centers from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 11th.

Saul Centers Trading Up 0.8 %

The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.90. The firm has a market cap of $886.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.93.

Saul Centers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 14th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. Saul Centers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 143.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO B Francis Saul II bought 3,558 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.14 per share, with a total value of $135,702.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 125,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,774,670.32. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 50.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Saul Centers

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Saul Centers by 2.6% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 57,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Saul Centers by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Saul Centers by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 54,430 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,005,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Saul Centers by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 42,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,562,000 after buying an additional 4,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Saul Centers by 7.0% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 38,081 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after buying an additional 2,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.95% of the company’s stock.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers, Inc is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, which currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio of 61 properties, which includes (a) 50 community and neighborhood shopping centers and seven mixed-use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four non-operating land and development properties.