Short Interest in Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) Declines By 8.5%

Getty Realty Corp. (NYSE:GTY) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in 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 trading volume of 337,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Getty Realty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Getty Realty by 1.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Getty Realty by 1.0% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 52,485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. 85.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Getty Realty Price Performance

NYSE GTY opened at $31.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 2.44 and a current ratio of 2.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.75 and a 200 day moving average of $29.45. Getty Realty has a one year low of $25.70 and a one year high of $33.23.

Getty Realty (NYSE:GTY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $51.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.79 million. Getty Realty had a return on equity of 6.84% and a net margin of 32.97%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Getty Realty will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Getty Realty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. This is a boost from Getty Realty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. Getty Realty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 153.85%.

About Getty Realty