Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) Short Interest Up 33.7% in March

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 13,170,550 shares, a growth of 33.7% from the March 15th total of 9,849,551 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,624,488 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days. Currently, 9.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESRT. Weiss Ratings cut Empire State Realty Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore set a $7.00 price target on Empire State Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Empire State Realty Trust from $6.80 to $6.30 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Empire State Realty Trust from $7.00 to $5.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $6.35.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Empire State Realty Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in Empire State Realty Trust by 456.9% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,128,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $72,557,000 after acquiring an additional 9,129,959 shares during the last quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Empire State Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $43,706,000. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Empire State Realty Trust by 264.1% in the fourth quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 5,524,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,020,000 after buying an additional 4,007,189 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Empire State Realty Trust by 204.5% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,155,109 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,571,000 after buying an additional 2,118,859 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Empire State Realty Trust by 137.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,105,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,284,000 after buying an additional 1,798,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.10% of the company’s stock.

Empire State Realty Trust Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Empire State Realty Trust stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $5.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,084,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,631,642. Empire State Realty Trust has a one year low of $4.87 and a one year high of $8.76. The company has a market capitalization of $939.25 million, a P/E ratio of 21.10 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $199.22 million during the quarter. Empire State Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.59% and a net margin of 6.06%.Empire State Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.850-0.890 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Empire State Realty Trust will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Empire State Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.035 dividend. This represents a $0.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Empire State Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 53.85%.

Empire State Realty Trust Company Profile

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the ownership, management and operation of office and retail properties. The company’s portfolio features the iconic Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, alongside a diversified collection of commercial assets situated throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and select markets in Upstate New York. By offering premium office space and street-level retail, Empire State Realty Trust positions itself as a landlord of choice for corporate tenants, retailers and experiential brands seeking high-profile addresses.

Established through a spin-off of assets in early 2013, Empire State Realty Trust consolidated a mix of landmark and Class A properties, creating scale in one of the world’s most competitive real estate markets.