Bailard Inc. Buys New Holdings in American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT)

Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 26,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $707,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in American Assets Trust by 227.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in American Assets Trust by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 14,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in American Assets Trust by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,831 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in American Assets Trust by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 253,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,652,000 after buying an additional 8,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in American Assets Trust by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.43% of the company’s stock.

American Assets Trust Stock Down 1.1 %

AAT stock opened at $22.21 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 8.17, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. American Assets Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.03 and a twelve month high of $29.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 1.30.

American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.41. American Assets Trust had a return on equity of 4.98% and a net margin of 12.40%. Research analysts expect that American Assets Trust, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Assets Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. This is a boost from American Assets Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. American Assets Trust’s payout ratio is 152.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Mizuho cut their price target on American Assets Trust from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.