Education Realty Trust Inc. (EDR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

Education Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:EDR) announced its earnings results on Monday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42, Bloomberg Earnings reports. The firm had revenue of $74.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.40 million. Education Realty Trust had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 2.47%. The business’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Education Realty Trust updated its FY17 guidance to $1.90-2.00 EPS.

Education Realty Trust (NYSE:EDR) opened at 38.94 on Monday. Education Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $36.98 and a 52 week high of $48.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.84 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.06 and a 200-day moving average of $39.74.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. This is an increase from Education Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. Education Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 255.74%.

In other news, Director Kimberly Schaefer bought 1,000 shares of Education Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $37.63 per share, with a total value of $37,630.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,355.67. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EDR. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Education Realty Trust by 6,848.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,549,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $390,108,000 after buying an additional 9,412,361 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Education Realty Trust during the second quarter worth $44,943,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Education Realty Trust by 27.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,828,545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,545,000 after buying an additional 604,412 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Education Realty Trust by 119.6% in the first quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 932,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,107,000 after buying an additional 508,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Education Realty Trust by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,605,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $474,095,000 after buying an additional 294,760 shares in the last quarter.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EDR. JMP Securities cut shares of Education Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. FBR & Co restated a “buy” rating on shares of Education Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. Citigroup Inc. cut shares of Education Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Canaccord Genuity cut shares of Education Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded shares of Education Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.13.

About Education Realty Trust

Education Realty Trust, Inc (EdR) is a self-managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT). The Trust is engaged in developing, acquiring, owning and managing collegiate housing communities located near university campuses. The Trust operates through three segments: collegiate housing leasing, development consulting services and management services.