Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:COLD) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,860,000 shares, a decrease of 36.3% from the January 31st total of 9,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert E. Harris sold 1,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.64, for a total transaction of $41,567.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,589.68. The trade was a 49.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Americold Realty Trust

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in Americold Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 2,288.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 961 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Americold Realty Trust by 1,081.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 2,033 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Americold Realty Trust in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in Americold Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. 98.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Americold Realty Trust Trading Down 2.2 %

COLD traded down $0.51 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,877,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,490. Americold Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $20.41 and a twelve month high of $30.45. The stock has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a PE ratio of -65.94, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.15 and a quick ratio of 0.15.

Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.27. Americold Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 3.54%. The firm had revenue of $666.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $684.03 million. On average, analysts expect that Americold Realty Trust will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Americold Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. Americold Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently -258.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COLD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Americold Realty Trust from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $31.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Americold Realty Trust from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.17.

About Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which focuses on the ownership, operation, development, and acquisition of temperature-controlled warehouses. It operates through the following segments: Warehouse, Third-Party Managed, Transportation, and Other. The Warehouse segment collects rent and storage fees from customers to store frozen and perishable food and other products within the firm’s real estate portfolio.