Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 195,111 Shares of Vornado Realty Trust $VNO

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,504,170 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 195,111 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.07% of Vornado Realty Trust worth $416,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Vornado Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $579,709,000. Resolution Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vornado Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,565,000. GRS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vornado Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,082,000. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in shares of Vornado Realty Trust by 173.8% during the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 785,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,833,000 after acquiring an additional 498,564 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Vornado Realty Trust by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,067,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,815,000 after acquiring an additional 330,942 shares in the last quarter. 90.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on VNO. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vornado Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Vornado Realty Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Vornado Realty Trust from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.55.

Vornado Realty Trust Trading Up 2.8%

VNO stock opened at $36.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 6.14 and a quick ratio of 6.14. Vornado Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $24.57 and a 1-year high of $43.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.03. The company has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.56.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.07). Vornado Realty Trust had a net margin of 43.99% and a return on equity of 15.82%. The company had revenue of $459.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $431.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Vornado Realty Trust will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vornado Realty Trust declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $300.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Vornado Realty Trust Company Profile

Vornado Realty Trust is a self‐administered real estate investment trust focused on the ownership, management and redevelopment of office and retail properties. As a fully integrated REIT, the company oversees leasing, property management, building operations and strategic capital improvements designed to enhance asset value and tenant experience. Vornado’s business model emphasizes long‐term cash flow generation through stable rental income and disciplined portfolio optimization.

The company’s core portfolio is concentrated in New York City, where it holds a diverse mix of office towers and street‐level retail assets in prominent submarkets such as Midtown and the Penn Plaza corridor.