Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC Buys Shares of 15,500 Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS)

Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 15,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $601,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BFS. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Saul Centers by 280.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 15,424 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Saul Centers by 75.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 34,240 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 14,755 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Saul Centers during the 3rd quarter worth about $702,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Saul Centers by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 55,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 3,708 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Saul Centers by 62.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 8,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.99% of the company’s stock.

Saul Centers Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE BFS opened at $34.30 on Friday. Saul Centers, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.22 and a 52-week high of $42.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.50. The stock has a market cap of $829.97 million, a PE ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $67.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.94 million. Saul Centers had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 20.84%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Saul Centers, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Saul Centers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. Saul Centers’s payout ratio is 144.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Saul Centers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties.