Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) Short Interest Up 50.7% in December

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROIC. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Retail Opportunity Investments by 1,473.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,753 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 4,320.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 3,197 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 35.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in the second quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Retail Opportunity Investments by 71.8% in the second 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 own 97.16% of the company’s stock.

Retail Opportunity Investments Stock Performance

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

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

Retail Opportunity Investments Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROIC. KeyCorp lowered shares of Retail Opportunity Investments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.50 price objective (up previously from $16.00) on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James lowered Retail Opportunity Investments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Retail Opportunity Investments from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Retail Opportunity Investments in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Retail Opportunity Investments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.17.

About Retail Opportunity Investments

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.