Investors Buy Large Volume of SL Green Realty Put Options (NYSE:SLG)

Key Points

• Traders have purchased a substantial volume of 16,553 put options for SL Green Realty, marking a significant increase of 909% over the average daily volume.
• Recent analyst reports show a downgrade in price targets for SL Green Realty, with Wells Fargo lowering it from $69 to $58, while Scotiabank upgraded it to $71 from "sector perform" to "sector outperform."
• The company will pay a dividend of $0.2575 per share on August 15, which represents a yield of 5.1%, with an ex-dividend date of July 31.

SL Green Realty Corporation (NYSE:SLG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 16,553 put options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately909% compared to the average daily volume of 1,640 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SLG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of SL Green Realty from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of SL Green Realty from $90.00 to $72.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SL Green Realty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating on shares of SL Green Realty in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of SL Green Realty from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $71.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.60.

Insider Activity at SL Green Realty

In related news, Director Carol N. Brown sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 937 shares in the company, valued at $56,791.57. This trade represents a 72.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of SL Green Realty

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of SL Green Realty by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in SL Green Realty during the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of SL Green Realty in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of SL Green Realty in the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in SL Green Realty by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,582 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. 89.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SL Green Realty Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE SLG traded down $0.38 during trading on Thursday, reaching $57.25. 856,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 933,475. The business's 50-day moving average price is $61.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.91. SL Green Realty has a twelve month low of $45.15 and a twelve month high of $82.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.85, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.02 and a beta of 1.65.

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $147.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SL Green Realty will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SL Green Realty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a yield of 510.0%. SL Green Realty's dividend payout ratio is currently -572.22%.

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.