Jefferies Group Upgrades First Industrial Realty Trust (FR) to Buy

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports.

FR has been the topic of several other research reports. ValuEngine cut shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. J P Morgan Chase & Co cut shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 15th. SunTrust Banks reissued a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in a research note on Friday, November 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of First Industrial Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.86.

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE FR) traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $30.86. 686,300 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 780,656. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. First Industrial Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $25.31 and a 1-year high of $32.91. The firm has a market cap of $3,730.00, a PE ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 1.02.

First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.25. First Industrial Realty Trust had a net margin of 32.44% and a return on equity of 9.54%. The business had revenue of $99.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. analysts expect that First Industrial Realty Trust will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Director Bruce W. Duncan sold 16,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.42, for a total transaction of $546,406.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 866,966 shares in the company, valued at $28,107,037.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce W. Duncan sold 16,855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.73, for a total transaction of $534,809.15. Following the sale, the director now owns 883,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,043,608.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,564 shares of company stock worth $1,601,193 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FR. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 5.2% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,823 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. First Mercantile Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 1.8% during the second quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 4,070 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Riverhead Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 77.8% during the second quarter. Riverhead Capital Management LLC now owns 6,224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of First Industrial Realty Trust by 7.8% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.88% of the company’s stock.

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First Industrial Realty Trust Company Profile

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Trust is a self-administered real estate company, which owns, manages, acquires, sells, develops and redevelops industrial real estate. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s in-service portfolio consisted of 215 light industrial properties, 53 research and development (R&D)/flex properties, 167 bulk warehouse properties and 100 regional warehouse properties containing an aggregate of approximately 62.2 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) located in 23 states.