Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI)

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 2,500 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 389% compared to the average daily volume of 511 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DEI. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Douglas Emmett by 142.7% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,544,575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,619,000 after buying an additional 1,496,132 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Douglas Emmett by 93.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,311,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,668 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Douglas Emmett by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,684,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $88,507,000 after acquiring an additional 899,233 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Douglas Emmett during the 3rd quarter valued at $11,399,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Douglas Emmett by 662.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 590,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,191,000 after purchasing an additional 512,895 shares in the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on DEI. Weiss Ratings downgraded Douglas Emmett from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Douglas Emmett in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Piper Sandler cut Douglas Emmett from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Douglas Emmett from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Douglas Emmett in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Douglas Emmett currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.00.

Douglas Emmett Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of DEI traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.02. The company had a trading volume of 648,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,769,283. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.78 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.74. Douglas Emmett has a 52 week low of $10.71 and a 52 week high of $18.60.

Douglas Emmett (NYSE:DEI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Douglas Emmett had a return on equity of 0.62% and a net margin of 2.22%.The business had revenue of $250.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $252.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Douglas Emmett has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.430-1.470 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Douglas Emmett will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Douglas Emmett Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Douglas Emmett’s payout ratio is presently 633.33%.

About Douglas Emmett

Douglas Emmett, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The company specializes in the ownership, management and development of high?quality office and multifamily properties, primarily concentrated in the coastal regions of Los Angeles County and the Greater Honolulu area. As a vertically integrated real estate platform, Douglas Emmett controls all aspects of property operations, leasing, capital improvements and tenant relations, positioning it to deliver stable, long?term cash flows.

The company’s office portfolio consists predominantly of Class A buildings located in prime business districts, featuring modern amenities, campus-like settings and environmentally conscious design elements.