3 REIT Upgrades This Week, Including One By Two Analysts

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As an investor, it's always thrilling when Wall Street analysts upgrade one of your stocks, as these upgrades are often catalysts for a rise in share price. Now, imagine if four different analysts increased their outlook on a stock within just one week.

Three real estate investment trusts (REITs) were upgraded this week, with one receiving two upgrades, plus price target hikes from two others. Take a look:

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Vornado Realty

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) is a New York-based diversified REIT that owns and operates approximately 20 million square feet of commercial office buildings and retail establishments, plus 2000 residential units in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. About 88% of its portfolio Net Operating Income (NOI) is derived from properties in New York City.

Vornado Realty also owns and operates advertising signage in the Penn District and Times Square areas of New York City. In addition, Vornado Realty owns several other mixed-use buildings in New York City that contain offices, restaurants, fitness centers, outdoor gardens and lounges.

Vornado Realty holds a 32.4% interest in Alexander's, Inc. (NYSE:ALX), a REIT that owns six properties in the New York City metropolitan area.

Vornado Realty's tenants are largely higher-grade, including Bloomberg, Bank of America, Fidelity, Capital One, Amazon and Aetna. Retail clients include Whole Foods, T-Mobile, Harry Winston, Nike, Disney and Forever 21.

Several Wall Street analysts took a major interest in Vornado Realty this week: On Aug. 8, Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Goldfarb upgraded Vornado Realty from Underweight to Neutral and raised the price target from $22 to $30. Also on Aug. 8, BMO Capital analyst John Kim upgraded Vornado Realty from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $29 to $40. In addition, Vornado Realty received price target hikes from two other analysts this week. On Aug. 7, Compass Point analyst Floris Van Dijkum maintained Vornado Realty with a Neutral rating and raised the price target from $27 to $32. On the same day, Evercore ISI Group analyst Steve Sakwa maintained Vornado Realty at ‘Underperform' while raising the price target from $24 to $31. However, this "underperforming" REIT has climbed 40.5% since the end of May.



The recent positive attention is likely due to Vornado's second-quarter earnings report on August 5. FFO of $0.57 per share beat the estimate of $0.54 and revenue of $450.266 million topped the estimate of $439.277 million.

With the report, Vornado also announced that a retail joint venture of which Vornado owns 52%, has agreed to sell a portion of its Fifth Avenue, New York City property for $350 million. The joint venture will continue to own and operate two stores at that location.

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EPR Properties

EPR Properties Inc. (NYSE:EPR) is a Kansas City, MO-based diversified experiential REIT that owns and operates 354 properties, including movie theater chains, amusement parks, ski resorts, fitness centers and other recreational venues with 200 tenants across 44 states. It also owns 61 Early Childhood Education centers and nine Private schools. At the end of 2023, it had a 99% occupancy rate.

On Aug. 5, RBC Capital analyst Michael Carroll upgraded EPR Properties from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $48 to $50. One week earlier, Stifel analyst Simon Yarmak maintained EPR Properties with a Hold and raised the price target from $42.50 to $47.50.

On July 31, EPR reported its second-quarter operating results. FFO of $1.22 per share was in line with estimates, but revenue of $173.095 million beat the analyst consensus estimate of $156.548 million and topped revenue from Q2 2023 of $172.907 million.

Diamondrock Hospitality

Diamondrock Hospitality Co. (NYSE:DRH) is a Bethesda, MD-based REIT with a portfolio of 36 premium hotels and resorts with 9757 rooms in 25 key gateway cities across the U.S.

On Aug. 5, Compass Point analyst Floris Van Dijkum upgraded Diamondrock Hospitality from Neutral to Buy and announced a $10 price target.

The upgrade likely reacted to Diamondrock's Q2 2024 operating results on August 1. FFO of $0.34 per share beat the estimate of $0.32 and FFO of $0.32 in the year-ago same quarter and revenue of $309.280 million beat the estimate of $301.770 million while also besting revenue from Q2 2023 of $291.247 million.

In addition, Diamondrock raised its full-year 2024 AFFO guidance from $0.91-$1.00 to $0.95-$1.00.

Better YieldsThan Some REITs?

The current high-interest-rate environment has created an incredible opportunity for income-seeking investors to earn massive yields, but not through REITs.

Arrived Homes, the Jeff Bezos-backed investment platform has launched its Private Credit Fund, which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with a target 7% to 9% net annual yield paid to investors monthly. It paid 8.1% in July. The best part? Unlike other private credit funds, this one has a minimum investment of only $100.

As long-term rates go down and short-term rates stay high, there’s a unique chance to invest in fix & flip loans before yields drop. Check out Benzinga's favorite high-yield offerings.

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