Employees Retirement System of Texas Makes New Investment in UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH)

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 136,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,568,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.17% of UMH Properties at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of UMH Properties during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of UMH Properties by 1,011.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,456 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UMH Properties by 861.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of UMH Properties in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of UMH Properties by 374.7% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at UMH Properties

In other news, CEO Samuel A. Landy sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.11, for a total transaction of $427,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,165,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,937,684.15. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Edward Mitchell sold 70,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.20, for a total value of $1,218,654.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 215,427 shares in the company, valued at $3,705,344.40. This trade represents a 24.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,826 shares of company stock valued at $2,323,564 over the last 90 days. 8.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of UMH Properties in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Maxim Group decreased their price target on shares of UMH Properties from $22.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of UMH Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.00.

UMH Properties Stock Up 0.9%

UMH opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 127.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 8.48, a current ratio of 8.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. UMH Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.73 and a 52 week high of $20.64. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.20.

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. The business had revenue of $61.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.82 million. UMH Properties had a return on equity of 6.06% and a net margin of 11.81%. As a group, research analysts expect that UMH Properties, Inc. will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UMH Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This is a boost from UMH Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. UMH Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 750.00%.

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.