Short Interest in Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) Rises By 56.5%

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,490,000 shares, a growth of 56.5% from the December 15th total of 2,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,950,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROIC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Retail Opportunity Investments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America started coverage on Retail Opportunity Investments in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Retail Opportunity Investments in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James lowered Retail Opportunity Investments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Retail Opportunity Investments has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.20.

Retail Opportunity Investments Stock Performance

NASDAQ ROIC traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,361,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,897. The business has a 50 day moving average of $17.39 and a 200-day moving average of $15.85. The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93 and a beta of 1.46. Retail Opportunity Investments has a 1-year low of $11.87 and a 1-year high of $17.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $83.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.13 million. Retail Opportunity Investments had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 4.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Retail Opportunity Investments will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Retail Opportunity Investments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Retail Opportunity Investments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 130.43%.

Institutional Trading of Retail Opportunity Investments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ROIC. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Retail Opportunity Investments by 296.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 952,252 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,979,000 after purchasing an additional 711,835 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 57.7% during the third quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 876,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,782,000 after buying an additional 320,520 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Retail Opportunity Investments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,556,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Retail Opportunity Investments by 316.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 211,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,331,000 after acquiring an additional 160,981 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Retail Opportunity Investments by 73.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 238,315 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,749,000 after acquiring an additional 101,275 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.16% of the company’s stock.

About Retail Opportunity Investments

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and management of grocery-anchored shopping centers located in densely populated, metropolitan markets across the West Coast. As of December 31, 2023, ROIC owned 94 shopping centers encompassing approximately 10.6 million square feet.