Short Interest in City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) Expands By 31.2%

City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE:CIO) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 361,300 shares, a growth of 31.2% from the October 31st total of 275,400 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 250,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

City Office REIT Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of City Office REIT stock opened at $5.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.42. The stock has a market cap of $232.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.81, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.97. City Office REIT has a 12-month low of $4.02 and a 12-month high of $6.70.

City Office REIT (NYSE:CIO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.36). City Office REIT had a negative net margin of 5.56% and a negative return on equity of 1.48%. The company had revenue of $42.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that City Office REIT will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

City Office REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.90%. City Office REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently -95.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On City Office REIT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in City Office REIT by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 245,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 73,736 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in City Office REIT by 237.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 43,562 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of City Office REIT by 23.0% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 205,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,197,000 after buying an additional 38,285 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of City Office REIT during the first quarter worth about $159,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in City Office REIT in the 1st quarter valued at about $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.47% of the company’s stock.

City Office REIT Company Profile

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S.