Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 18,789 Shares of Agree Realty Co. (NYSE:ADC)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Agree Realty Co. (NYSE:ADC - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 18,789 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.06% of Agree Realty worth $4,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Agree Realty by 129.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 239,783 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,062,000 after purchasing an additional 135,274 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Agree Realty by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,646,526 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $274,693,000 after purchasing an additional 990,362 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Agree Realty during the 4th quarter valued at $213,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agree Realty by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,893 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in Agree Realty in the 4th quarter worth $359,000. 97.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Agree Realty Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE ADC traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $75.64. 851,649 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,044,759. Agree Realty Co. has a 52 week low of $58.52 and a 52 week high of $79.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $75.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.08. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 42.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.57.

Agree Realty (NYSE:ADC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $169.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.77 million. Agree Realty had a return on equity of 3.70% and a net margin of 30.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Analysts forecast that Agree Realty Co. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agree Realty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.256 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $3.07 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is an increase from Agree Realty's previous monthly dividend of $0.25. Agree Realty's dividend payout ratio is currently 173.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Agree Realty from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Agree Realty from $81.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Agree Realty from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Agree Realty from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Agree Realty in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.04.

Agree Realty Profile

Agree Realty Corporation is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that is RETHINKING RETAIL through the acquisition and development of properties net leased to industry-leading, omni-channel retail tenants. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned and operated a portfolio of 2,135 properties, located in 49 states and containing approximately 44.2 million square feet of gross leasable area.