Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,310,000 shares, a drop of 16.2% from the March 15th total of 3,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 708,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,322,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $723,815,000 after buying an additional 82,913 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,537,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,370,000 after acquiring an additional 161,963 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,026,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,367,000 after acquiring an additional 385,983 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,145,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,371,000 after purchasing an additional 51,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,737,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,084,000 after purchasing an additional 606,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PECO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.83.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:PECO traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.73. 43,921 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 698,207. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.62 and a 1 year high of $40.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.95.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.50. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 2.40%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.1025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.23 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 246.00%.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services.