Short Interest in Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) Grows By 50.7%

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a growth of 50.7% from the November 30th total of 1,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 1,473.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,753 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 4,320.3% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 3,197 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 35.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments during the 2nd quarter worth $82,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its stake in Retail Opportunity Investments by 71.8% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 7,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.16% of the company’s stock.

Retail Opportunity Investments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROIC remained flat at $17.35 on Friday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 996,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,310,625. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.72 and a beta of 1.47. Retail Opportunity Investments has a 52 week low of $11.87 and a 52 week high of $17.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.32.

Retail Opportunity Investments (NASDAQ:ROIC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $83.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $82.13 million. Retail Opportunity Investments had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 4.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Retail Opportunity Investments will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Retail Opportunity Investments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Retail Opportunity Investments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 130.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.50 price objective (up previously from $16.00) on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Raymond James cut Retail Opportunity Investments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lowered Retail Opportunity Investments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Retail Opportunity Investments from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.17.

Retail Opportunity Investments Company Profile

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and management of grocery-anchored shopping centers located in densely populated, metropolitan markets across the West Coast. As of December 31, 2023, ROIC owned 94 shopping centers encompassing approximately 10.6 million square feet.