Americold Realty Trust Inc. $COLD Stock Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management increased its Americold Realty Trust stake by 183.5% in the third quarter, adding about 1.51 million shares to reach 2.33 million shares, valued at roughly $32.6 million.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed: six rate the stock Buy, eight Hold and two Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and a $15.89 price target. Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to Overweight with a $19 target.
• Americold reported quarterly revenue of $691.6 million, up 4.2% year over year, and earnings per share of $0.35, beating consensus estimates. Shares rose 5.2% to $16.73 in Friday trading; the company’s annualized dividend yield is 5.5%.

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Americold Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:COLD - Free Report) by 183.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,331,863 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,509,399 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.82% of Americold Realty Trust worth $32,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 555.9% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,199,443 shares of the company's stock worth $16,768,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016,566 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 499.1% in the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 827,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,575,000 after buying an additional 689,796 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 60.4% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 17,711 shares of the company's stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 6,667 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 2,530.2% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 8,785 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 8,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. bought a new position in shares of Americold Realty Trust in the third quarter valued at about $147,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Americold Realty Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Americold Realty Trust in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank raised shares of Americold Realty Trust from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Americold Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.89.

Americold Realty Trust Trading Up 5.2%

Shares of NYSE COLD traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,209,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,806,948. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Americold Realty Trust Inc. has a one year low of $10.10 and a one year high of $16.88. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $14.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.93.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.37. Americold Realty Trust had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $691.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $640.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Americold Realty Trust's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Americold Realty Trust Inc. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Americold Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. Americold Realty Trust's payout ratio is currently 110.84%.

Americold Realty Trust Company Profile

Americold Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates temperature-controlled warehouses and provides logistics services for the food supply chain. Its facilities help customers store and move perishable products, including food produced by manufacturers and processors and products distributed to retailers and food-service businesses. The company offers refrigerated and frozen storage, handling, transportation and other supply chain services. It also manages temperature-controlled facilities for third parties, combining warehouse space with operational support for customers' distribution needs.

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