Morgan Stanley Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP)

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $62.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on BXP. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Boston Properties from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Boston Properties from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Boston Properties from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Boston Properties from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Boston Properties from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.60.

Boston Properties Stock Performance

Shares of BXP opened at $61.41 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.45. Boston Properties has a 52 week low of $50.64 and a 52 week high of $73.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.15.

Boston Properties (NYSE:BXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($1.22). Boston Properties had a return on equity of 2.35% and a net margin of 5.81%. The company had revenue of $839.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $808.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Boston Properties will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Boston Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Boston Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 321.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Boston Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Boston Properties by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 97,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,121,000 after purchasing an additional 38,932 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Boston Properties in the 1st quarter worth $281,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Boston Properties by 112.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 38,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,529,000 after purchasing an additional 20,468 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Boston Properties in the 1st quarter worth $16,729,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Boston Properties in the 1st quarter worth $278,000. 98.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Boston Properties

Boston Properties, Inc (NYSE: BXP) (BXP or the Company) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, concentrated in six dynamic gateway markets – Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP has delivered places that power progress for our clients and communities for more than 50 years.