STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG) Raises Dividend to $0.12 Per Share

STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE:STAG - Get Free Report) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, April 11th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.1233 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This is a positive change from STAG Industrial's previous monthly dividend of $0.12.

STAG Industrial has increased its dividend by an average of 0.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 6 years. STAG Industrial has a dividend payout ratio of 166.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect STAG Industrial to earn $2.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.4%.

STAG Industrial Trading Up 0.5 %

STAG stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $37.38. 716,391 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,134,521. STAG Industrial has a 52-week low of $31.69 and a 52-week high of $39.61. The stock's fifty day moving average is $37.75 and its 200-day moving average is $36.72. The company has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Institutional Trading of STAG Industrial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of STAG Industrial by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,060,931 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,023,152,000 after acquiring an additional 110,453 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in STAG Industrial by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,782,753 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $352,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016,348 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in STAG Industrial by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,241,749 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $137,051,000 after purchasing an additional 516,088 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in STAG Industrial by 3.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,806,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $128,742,000 after purchasing an additional 132,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of STAG Industrial by 5.9% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,148,777 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $97,234,000 after purchasing an additional 175,758 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on STAG. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $41.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of STAG Industrial in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on STAG Industrial from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up previously from $41.00) on shares of STAG Industrial in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of STAG Industrial in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, STAG Industrial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.13.

STAG Industrial Company Profile

We are a REIT focused on the acquisition, ownership, and operation of industrial properties throughout the United States. Our platform is designed to (i) identify properties for acquisition that offer relative value across CBRE-EA Tier 1 industrial real estate markets, industries, and tenants through the principled application of our proprietary risk assessment model, (ii) provide growth through sophisticated industrial operation and an attractive opportunity set, and (iii) capitalize our business appropriately given the characteristics of our assets.