UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 563,600 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the August 31st total of 658,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 544,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kiernan Conway sold 2,700 shares of UMH Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.54, for a total transaction of $52,758.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,050.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 8.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UMH Properties

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UMH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in UMH Properties by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,541,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $100,212,000 after buying an additional 629,427 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in UMH Properties by 9.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 388,861 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,218,000 after purchasing an additional 34,249 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in UMH Properties by 245.9% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 664,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,789,000 after purchasing an additional 472,307 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in UMH Properties by 843.9% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in UMH Properties by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 124,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,022,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on UMH shares. StockNews.com raised shares of UMH Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of UMH Properties from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of UMH Properties from $18.50 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Alliance Global Partners initiated coverage on UMH Properties in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.25.

UMH Properties Stock Down 0.3 %

UMH stock opened at $19.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -128.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.30. UMH Properties has a 52 week low of $13.26 and a 52 week high of $20.64. The company has a quick ratio of 6.77, a current ratio of 6.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.12 and a 200 day moving average of $16.95.

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.21). UMH Properties had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 3.17%. The company had revenue of $60.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.84 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that UMH Properties will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

UMH Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. UMH Properties’s payout ratio is -573.30%.

About UMH Properties

UMH Properties, Inc, which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.