Agree Realty Co. (NYSE:ADC) is a real estate investment trust that has recently caught the attention of Wells Fargo & Company MN, according to its latest report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm increased its stake in ADC by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, bringing its total number of shares owned up to 427,490. With this additional acquisition, Wells Fargo now owns 0.48% of Agree Realty, amounting to a total value of $30,322,000 at the end of the reporting period.
Looking at recent earnings data from ADC provides insight into why Wells Fargo may have taken an interest in this particular investment. For Q1 2023, Agree Realty reported an EPS of $0.44 per share, which unfortunately fell short of market expectations by missing consensus estimates by ($0.52). Although not deemed particularly impressive from a growth standpoint, there were some other metrics worth noting such as a return on equity of 4.04% and a net margin of 34.48%. Revenue generated for this quarter was $126.62 million which did surpass most analyst’s expectations predicted at $124.55 million for this period.
Despite these fundamental shifts than can positively reflect on an investor’s portfolio’s health status when compared to competing properties; stock retailers have nevertheless been somewhat concerned about Agree Realty’s current price performance and myopic financial situational conditions.
Currently undergoing scrutiny from various analysts since February 2023 onwards emanating primarily from discrepancies between StockNews.com suggestive sell rating on ADC stocks -to (corroborated or refuted) stronger buy ratings bestowed upon it by JMP Securities- the trading value and aggressiveness continues unabated even ten months later into June 12th overall producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating based off data from Bloomberg.com alongside a moderate target pricing outlook dented previously by Mizuho dropping prices from its previous level of $78.00 to $73.00.
Overall, it is not clear why Wells Fargo & Company MN chose to increase its stake in Agree Realty Co., but it appears that there are mixed sentiments among industry analysts as to whether this investment is worth the risk. Still, given their clout and vision for the market and perception of incentives flowing from additional government policy changes, most investors will continue keeping a
watchful eye on how Agree Realty’s stock prices will unfold throughout this year, particularly in regards to higher exposure levels.
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Investor Stakes and Mixed Reports: A Look at Agree Realty Co.
Agree Realty Co., a real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently seen changes to its investor stakes. Credit Suisse AG increased its holdings by 3.6% in the third quarter, now owning over 126,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8.5 million. BlackRock Inc. also raised its stake by 6.9%, now owning over 15 million shares worth $1 billion. Strs Ohio increased its stake by an impressive 138% in the fourth quarter while Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake by over 17%. HealthCare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake of approximately $3.5 million.
As for recent performance, ADC stock traded at $65.41 on June 12th with around 144,000 shares being traded that day compared to an average daily volume of about 888,000 shares. The company, which has a market capitalization of around $6.1 billion, has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.46 with a P/E ratio of 36.53 and a P/E/G ratio of 3.16.
According to financial analysts, Agree Realty consecutively received mixed reports over the past few months.The company saw their price objective lifted from $76.75 to $77.50 in February but had their price target dropped from $78 to $73 in March, resulting in them receiving a “neutral” rating from Mizuho analysts.Additionally,JMP Securities analysts lowered their rating for ADC to “market perfrom” in late March while StockNews.com began covering Agree Realty with a “sell” rating on May18th.Based on data from Bloomberg.com and various research reports,the consensus is that ADC is somewhere in between ‘hold’and ‘buy’.
Finally,director John Rakolta Jr.acquired 10,495 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction worth over $712,000 on May 8th.The director now owns over 281,768 shares of ADC worth more than $19 million.On May 11th,Rakolta Jr. bought another 7,500 shares pushing his total direct ownership to over 300,000.Insiders have collectively purchased around 33,370 shares of the company in the last quarter alone,valued at over $2.2 million.This suggests that insiders remain optimistic about Agree Realty’s future outlook and potential for growth.