Short Interest in Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) Declines By 9.2%

Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,930,000 shares, a decline of 9.2% from the August 31st total of 15,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Healthcare Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HR opened at $18.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.64 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.29. Healthcare Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $12.77 and a fifty-two week high of $18.90.

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.77). Healthcare Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 42.79% and a negative return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $316.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Healthcare Realty Trust will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Healthcare Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.83%. Healthcare Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently -93.23%.

Insider Transactions at Healthcare Realty Trust

In other Healthcare Realty Trust news, Director John Knox Singleton bought 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.24 per share, with a total value of $118,560.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 57,082 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,175.68. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director John Knox Singleton bought 6,500 shares of Healthcare Realty Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.24 per share, with a total value of $118,560.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 57,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,175.68. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas N. Bohjalian bought 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.39 per share, with a total value of $156,510.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 22,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,962.28. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 15,728 shares of company stock valued at $279,069 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Healthcare Realty Trust

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust by 52.3% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,942,261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $154,833,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758,040 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its position in shares of Healthcare Realty Trust by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 12,566,887 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $216,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,529 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Healthcare Realty Trust by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,246,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $767,585,000 after acquiring an additional 723,197 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Healthcare Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $10,304,000. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. bought a new position in Healthcare Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $8,911,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HR has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Healthcare Realty Trust from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Healthcare Realty Trust from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Healthcare Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Healthcare Realty Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Healthcare Realty Trust Company Profile

Healthcare Realty (NYSE: HR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates medical outpatient buildings primarily located around market-leading hospital campuses. The Company selectively grows its portfolio through property acquisition and development. As the first and largest REIT to specialize in medical outpatient buildings, Healthcare Realty's portfolio includes more than 700 properties totaling over 40 million square feet concentrated in 15 growth markets.