UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on UMH. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of UMH Properties in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Maxim Group cut their price objective on shares of UMH Properties from $22.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, UMH Properties currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

UMH Properties Price Performance

UMH stock opened at $16.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 8.48 and a quick ratio of 8.48. UMH Properties has a one year low of $14.73 and a one year high of $20.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 126.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.25.

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. UMH Properties had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 6.06%. The business had revenue of $61.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.82 million. On average, analysts predict that UMH Properties will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UMH Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is an increase from UMH Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. UMH Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 750.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Samuel A. Landy sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.11, for a total value of $427,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,165,265 shares in the company, valued at $19,937,684.15. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William Edward Mitchell sold 39,974 shares of UMH Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.94, for a total transaction of $677,159.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 115,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,958,721.38. The trade was a 25.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,826 shares of company stock valued at $2,323,564 in the last 90 days. 8.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in UMH Properties by 161.3% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 266,398 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,982,000 after buying an additional 164,465 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in UMH Properties by 14.4% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 20,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in UMH Properties by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 42,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 1,871 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in UMH Properties by 1,091.0% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 896,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,759,000 after buying an additional 820,934 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in UMH Properties by 15.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,420 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 5,590 shares during the period. 75.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UMH Properties Company Profile

UMH Properties, Inc, which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.