SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) Rating Increased to Buy at Citigroup

Key Points

• SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) has been upgraded from a "neutral" to a "buy" rating by Citigroup, with a new price target of $70.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.48% from its current price.
• The company posted positive earnings results for its last quarter, reporting an EPS of $1.63, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.37.
• SL Green Realty's stock currently holds an average rating of "Hold" from equity analysts, with five ratings as "Buy" and ten as "Hold," reflecting mixed investor sentiment.

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $70.00 price target on the real estate investment trust's stock, up from their previous price target of $65.00. Citigroup's price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.48% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of SL Green Realty from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of SL Green Realty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of SL Green Realty in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of SL Green Realty from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of SL Green Realty from $69.00 to $58.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $67.57.

SL Green Realty Stock Performance

Shares of SLG stock opened at $63.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -117.33 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 2.72. SL Green Realty has a 52 week low of $45.15 and a 52 week high of $82.81. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $58.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.06.

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $147.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.24 million. SL Green Realty had a negative net margin of 2.21% and a negative return on equity of 1.19%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. SL Green Realty has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.650-5.950 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SL Green Realty will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SL Green Realty news, Director Carol N. Brown sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.61, for a total value of $151,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,791.57. The trade was a 72.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SL Green Realty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SLG. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in SL Green Realty by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 300,721 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $20,437,000 after buying an additional 99,167 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in SL Green Realty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,832,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in SL Green Realty by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 5,658 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in SL Green Realty by 78.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 63,881 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,339,000 after buying an additional 28,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SL Green Realty by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,636,907 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $111,179,000 after acquiring an additional 46,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.96% of the company's stock.

About SL Green Realty

3SL Green Realty Corp., Manhattan's largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of June 30, 2022, SL Green held interests in 64 buildings totaling 34.4 million square feet.

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