Wall Street Zen Downgrades UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) to Sell

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on UMH. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of UMH Properties in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of UMH Properties from $22.00 to $20.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $21.00.

UMH Properties Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of UMH stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $16.72. 282,308 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 435,262. UMH Properties has a 1-year low of $14.98 and a 1-year high of $20.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.10. The company has a quick ratio of 8.48, a current ratio of 8.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 128.63, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.14.

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. UMH Properties had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 6.06%. The business had revenue of $61.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.82 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that UMH Properties will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

UMH Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.225 dividend. This is an increase from UMH Properties's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.38%. UMH Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 750.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Samuel A. Landy sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.11, for a total transaction of $427,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,165,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,937,684.15. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Edward Mitchell sold 39,974 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.94, for a total transaction of $677,159.56. Following the transaction, the director now owns 115,627 shares in the company, valued at $1,958,721.38. This represents a 25.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,826 shares of company stock worth $2,323,564 in the last quarter. 8.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UMH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in UMH Properties by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,506,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $141,722,000 after buying an additional 799,798 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in UMH Properties by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,324,531 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $99,569,000 after buying an additional 73,196 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in UMH Properties by 124.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,031,849 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $76,121,000 after buying an additional 2,236,080 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in UMH Properties by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 2,828,469 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,401,000 after buying an additional 67,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in UMH Properties by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,105,608 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $39,375,000 after buying an additional 10,602 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.40% of the company's stock.

UMH Properties Company Profile

UMH Properties, Inc, which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.