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. 

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.

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%.

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. (NYSE: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

While publicly traded REITs offer a convenient way to invest in real estate, we believe that some of the most compelling opportunities lie in the private market. Benzinga's real estate offering screener features a curated selection of private market real estate offerings from trusted platforms with a track record of strong returns.

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