Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 (NYSE:HR)

Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

Healthcare Realty Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.5% per year over the last three years. Healthcare Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of -364.7% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Healthcare Realty Trust to earn $1.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 76.1%.

Healthcare Realty Trust Stock Up 1.8 %

HR opened at $17.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.61 and a beta of 0.94. Healthcare Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $12.77 and a 52 week high of $18.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.37.

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. Healthcare Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 11.20% and a negative net margin of 51.60%. The firm had revenue of $309.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $303.81 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Healthcare Realty Trust will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on HR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Healthcare Realty Trust from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Healthcare Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Healthcare Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Healthcare Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Healthcare Realty Trust from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Healthcare Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Peter F. Sr Lyle, Sr. acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.21 per share, for a total transaction of $172,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 26,576 shares in the company, valued at $457,372.96. This represents a 60.33 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Healthcare Realty Trust

Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc provides real estate investment services. It owns, leases, manages, acquires, finances, develops, and redevelops income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services throughout the United States of America. The company was founded by David R.