J P Morgan Chase & Co Downgrades Liberty Property Trust (LPT) to Underweight

Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) was downgraded by research analysts at J P Morgan Chase & Co from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $41.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. J P Morgan Chase & Co’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 6.84% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Liberty Property Trust in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Liberty Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. KeyCorp reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Liberty Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Liberty Property Trust from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded Liberty Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Liberty Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.75.

Shares of Liberty Property Trust (NYSE LPT) traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.01. The stock had a trading volume of 2,217,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,142. Liberty Property Trust has a twelve month low of $37.21 and a twelve month high of $45.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $6,480.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.23). Liberty Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 47.78%. The business had revenue of $193.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $174.65 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. research analysts expect that Liberty Property Trust will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liberty Property Trust declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

In related news, Director David L. Lingerfelt sold 18,000 shares of Liberty Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.56, for a total value of $802,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,531,631.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Liberty Property Trust by 28.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 290,716 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,937,000 after acquiring an additional 64,072 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Liberty Property Trust by 239.7% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 21,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,225 shares during the period. Fieldpoint Private Securities LLC acquired a new position in Liberty Property Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Liberty Property Trust by 30.2% in the third quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 73,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after acquiring an additional 17,027 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Liberty Property Trust by 4.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 392,334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,109,000 after acquiring an additional 17,371 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.46% of the company’s stock.

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Liberty Property Trust Company Profile

Liberty Property Trust (the Trust) is a self-administered and self-managed Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT). The Trust’s assets are owned directly or indirectly, and substantially all of the Trust’s operations are conducted directly or indirectly, by its subsidiary, Liberty Property Limited Partnership (the Operating Partnership).

Analyst Recommendations for Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT)