Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Purchases 27,051 Shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE) by 57.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 74,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,051 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alexandria Real Estate Equities were worth $7,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,585,038 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,270,634,000 after acquiring an additional 112,864 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,466,187 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $240,577,000 after acquiring an additional 15,285 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 903,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $88,140,000 after acquiring an additional 42,825 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management raised its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 841,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,023,000 after acquiring an additional 32,367 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in Alexandria Real Estate Equities by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 554,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,127,000 after acquiring an additional 82,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.54% of the company’s stock.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of ARE opened at $102.27 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.02 and its 200 day moving average is $108.12. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.25 and a fifty-two week high of $130.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.70 billion, a PE ratio of 56.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $1.48. Alexandria Real Estate Equities had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 1.43%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.32 per share. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Alexandria Real Estate Equities’s payout ratio is 293.33%.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 2.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ARE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities from $125.00 to $114.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alexandria Real Estate Equities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.30.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator, and developer of collaborative life science, agtech, and advanced technology mega campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle.