Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (NYSE:CHCT) Short Interest Update

Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (NYSE:CHCT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 567,300 shares, an increase of 10.2% from the June 30th total of 514,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 184,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Community Healthcare Trust Stock Performance

Community Healthcare Trust stock opened at $21.78 on Thursday. Community Healthcare Trust has a one year low of $21.38 and a one year high of $36.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $24.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.25. The company has a market cap of $603.31 million, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.68.

Community Healthcare Trust (NYSE:CHCT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.92). The firm had revenue of $27.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 million. Community Healthcare Trust had a return on equity of 0.25% and a net margin of 1.13%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Community Healthcare Trust will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Community Healthcare Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.4625 dividend. This is an increase from Community Healthcare Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.49%. Community Healthcare Trust’s payout ratio is presently 287.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CHCT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Community Healthcare Trust by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,874,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $85,371,000 after purchasing an additional 17,877 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Community Healthcare Trust by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,418 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Community Healthcare Trust by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 28,141 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Community Healthcare Trust by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,659 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after buying an additional 22,431 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Community Healthcare Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $497,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Community Healthcare Trust from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $27.00) on shares of Community Healthcare Trust in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (down from $36.00) on shares of Community Healthcare Trust in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Community Healthcare Trust from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Community Healthcare Trust Company Profile

Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated is a real estate investment trust that focuses on owning income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services in our target sub-markets throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had investments of approximately $1.1 billion in 193 real estate properties (including a portion of one property accounted for as a sales-type lease and two properties classified as held for sale).