Short Interest in City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) Increases By 5.9%

City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 406,700 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 31st total of 384,200 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 249,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other City Office REIT news, Director Michael Mazan acquired 39,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.22 per share, for a total transaction of $164,580.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,580. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of City Office REIT by 73.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,059,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 447,484 shares during the last quarter. Newtyn Management LLC raised its stake in shares of City Office REIT by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 3,180,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,515,000 after acquiring an additional 120,279 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of City Office REIT by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 315,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 60,197 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of City Office REIT by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,695,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,206,000 after acquiring an additional 46,800 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in City Office REIT by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,913,640 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,633,000 after purchasing an additional 40,432 shares in the last quarter. 67.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded City Office REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

City Office REIT Stock Up 0.4 %

City Office REIT stock opened at $4.66 on Wednesday. City Office REIT has a fifty-two week low of $3.45 and a fifty-two week high of $6.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.91. The company has a market capitalization of $187.10 million, a PE ratio of -18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.84.

City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.42). The business had revenue of $44.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.47 million. City Office REIT had a negative return on equity of 0.40% and a negative net margin of 1.50%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts expect that City Office REIT will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

City Office REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.58%. City Office REIT’s payout ratio is -160.00%.

About City Office REIT

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S.