Short Interest in American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) Increases By 5.9%

American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the July 31st total of 1,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 298,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

American Assets Trust Stock Performance

Shares of AAT stock opened at $27.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.54. American Assets Trust has a one year low of $17.15 and a one year high of $27.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62 and a beta of 1.29.

American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.33). American Assets Trust had a return on equity of 4.62% and a net margin of 12.00%. The business had revenue of $110.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that American Assets Trust will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Assets Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.92%. American Assets Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 150.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAT. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Assets Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of American Assets Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of American Assets Trust by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,706 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Assets Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in American Assets Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Mizuho raised their target price on American Assets Trust from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th.

American Assets Trust Company Profile

American Assets Trust, Inc is a full service, vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT"), headquartered in San Diego, California. The company has over 55 years of experience in acquiring, improving, developing and managing premier office, retail, and residential properties throughout the United States in some of the nation's most dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Hawaii.