Cerity Partners LLC Lowers Position in UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,656 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in UDR were worth $5,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of UDR by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,809,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,205,650,000 after buying an additional 180,551 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UDR during the 4th quarter worth about $1,273,442,000. FMR LLC increased its position in UDR by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,592,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $546,639,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,432 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in UDR by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,924,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $343,129,000 after buying an additional 220,293 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in UDR by 5.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,774,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $352,498,000 after buying an additional 368,087 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at UDR

In other UDR news, CEO Thomas W. Toomey sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $1,068,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 824,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,256,609. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UDR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of UDR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $50.00 to $45.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Zelman & Associates reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of UDR in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on UDR from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of UDR from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of UDR from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UDR currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.12.

UDR Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE UDR opened at $39.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 5.91 and a current ratio of 5.61. UDR, Inc. has a one year low of $35.14 and a one year high of $47.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.06 billion, a PE ratio of 157.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.78.

UDR (NYSE:UDR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.53. UDR had a return on equity of 2.65% and a net margin of 5.36%. On average, equities analysts forecast that UDR, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

UDR Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from UDR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. UDR’s payout ratio is 688.00%.

About UDR

UDR, Inc (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate communities in targeted U.S.