Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) Cut to Neutral at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $18.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Americold Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $26.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Americold Realty Trust from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Americold Realty Trust from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Americold Realty Trust presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.42.

Americold Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of COLD opened at $16.85 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.53. Americold Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $16.11 and a twelve month high of $30.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -49.57, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.84.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.01). Americold Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 3.54% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The business had revenue of $628.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $667.18 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Americold Realty Trust will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Americold Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.46%. Americold Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently -213.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Americold Realty Trust news, CFO Jay Wells bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.91 per share, for a total transaction of $179,100.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,100. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George F. Jr. Chappelle bought 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.99 per share, with a total value of $1,978,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,978,900. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 5,025 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Americold Realty Trust by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 4,105 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 1,081.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033 shares during the period. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Americold Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $410,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 81,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 7,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.14% of the company’s stock.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio.