Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) Short Interest Down 8.5% in October

Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the September 30th total of 2,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 337,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GTY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Getty Realty from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Getty Realty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Getty Realty from $31.50 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Getty Realty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.50.

Institutional Trading of Getty Realty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its holdings in Getty Realty by 5.0% in the second quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Getty Realty by 1.6% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Getty Realty by 0.8% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 55,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Getty Realty by 34.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Getty Realty by 1.0% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 52,485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 85.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Getty Realty Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Getty Realty stock traded down $0.51 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.40. 211,995 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 286,664. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Getty Realty has a 1 year low of $25.70 and a 1 year high of $33.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.75 and its 200 day moving average is $29.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Getty Realty (NYSE:GTY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.28). Getty Realty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 33.49%. The company had revenue of $51.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.79 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Getty Realty will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Getty Realty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This is a positive change from Getty Realty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.99%. Getty Realty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 160.68%.

About Getty Realty