Analysts See Upside On These 3 REITs

As an investor, it's always a thrill to see positive news on one of your stocks that is likely to increase the share price. The news might be a dividend raise, a good earnings report, a new product, service or alliance or an upgrade from an analyst at a prestigious brokerage or bank.

Take a look at three real estate investment trusts (REITs) that recently received analyst upgrades to begin a new week. All three posted meaningful fourth-quarter earnings and received price target increases from the analysts that are sure to boost the share prices. 

National Health Investors Inc. NHI is a Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based healthcare REIT that specializes in sale-leaseback, joint-venture, mortgage and mezzanine financing of senior housing and medical investments. Its portfolio of 194 properties consists of senior housing, skilled nursing facilities and specialty hospitals. National Health Investors was incorporated in 1991.

On Feb. 26, Wells Fargo analyst Connor Siversky upgraded National Health Investors from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $55 to $63.

It's easy to see why the analyst upgraded it. On Feb. 20, National Health Investors issued its fourth-quarter operating results. Funds from operations (FFO) of $1.09 per share beat the Street estimate of $1.07 per share and was well above its fourth-quarter 2022 FFO of $0.87 per share. Revenue of $79.47 million was also ahead of the estimate of $78.44 million and above fourth-quarter 2022 revenue of $70.67 million. Full-year FFO guidance in a range from $4.31-$4.37 with a midpoint of $4.34 came in just a penny shy of the $4.33 estimate.

National Health Investors also announced it will pay a first-quarter dividend of $0.90 per share on May 3 to stockholders as of March 28. The annual $3.60 dividend yields 6.2%.

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. OHI is a Hunt Valley, Maryland-based triple-net equity healthcare REIT that provides financing, capital and leasing to 69 operators among 862 senior housing, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities across 42 states in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Omega Healthcare Investors has no part in the day-to-day management of these facilities, which are run by the operators.

On Feb. 26, Wells Fargo analyst Siversky upgraded Omega Healthcare Investors from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $31 to $35.

On Feb. 7, Omega Healthcare also posted strong fourth-quarter operating results. Although FFO of $0.68 per share slipped from $0.73 in the fourth quarter of 2022, it still beat the estimate of $0.67 per share. Revenue of $239.32 million beat the estimate of $233.82 million and was a 65.22% increase from fourth-quarter 2022 revenue of $144.85 million.

Since the release of the earnings report, Omega Healthcare is up about 11%.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. AVB is a residential REIT that acquires, develops and manages multifamily communities. As of Dec. 31, AvalonBay Communities owned approximately 90,669 apartments directly or indirectly in 299 communities across 12 states and Washington, D.C. 

On Feb. 26, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Kramer upgraded AvalonBay Communities from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $175 to $191.50. On Feb. 22, Goldman Sachs reinstated AvalonBay at Neutral with a $191 price target.

On Jan. 31, AvalonBay posted its fourth-quarter operating results. Core FFO of $2.74 was in line with estimates but up from $2.59 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Revenue of $702.7 million beat the estimates of $700.16 million and was 5.45% above the revenue of $666.39 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

On Feb. 7, Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" also recommended AvalonBay, saying, "I think AvalonBay right here is done going down." Although the stock did drop another $4 before bottoming, it has rebounded and was recently about $2 above its price when he made that call.

Explore Opportunities Beyond REITs

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