After A 20% Pullback, Now Is The Time To Load Up On Regency Centers

Regency Centers Corp REG is trading just above its 52-week low of $64.82 at $68.67 and down around 20 percent from its high-point in late July.

Argus analyst Jacob Kilstein upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and placed an $80 target price on the stock, citing the discounted share price and “consistently strong operating results” as the key points in his thesis.

“Our Buy rating reflects the company’s focus on grocery-store-anchored shopping centers in first-ring suburbs and the generally stronger outlook for grocery stores than for general retail,” said Kilstein.

Regency saw a 7 percent growth in revenue and 8 percent core FFO growth in Q3, according to the analyst.

In addition, Regency announced a merger with fellow REIT Equity One, Inc. EQY on November 14 (close expected in first half of 2017). This merger will create the largest shopping center REIT with a $15.6 billion market cap and add cost savings of $27 million by 2018.

At last check, Regency Centers shares were trading up 1.51 percent at $68.71.