Upgrade sends Regency to seven-year high

The Jacksonville Daily Record recently published an article analyzing stocks and performance. The article included the following on Regency Centers:

Regency Centers Corp.’s stock last week reached its highest level in almost seven years after Raymond James analysts upgraded the Jacksonville-based shopping center developer.

The analysts upgraded Regency from “market perform” to “outperform” as part of an overall reassessment of a number of real estate investment trust stocks.

“We believe the company’s recycling and repositioning efforts over the last several years have created a high-quality portfolio that will continue to deliver strong earnings growth and above-average same-store net operating income growth in 2015,” they said.

“Through portfolio upgrades and prudent asset management, Regency Centers has shown an ability to create value, as consensus NAV (net asset value) estimates have grown an average 12 percent per year over the last five years. We expect that NAV growth to continue, driving Regency shares higher,” they said.

The Raymond James analysts set a $71 price target for the stock.

Regency’s shares rose as much as $2.01 to $68.02 Wednesday after the upgrade and reached as high as $68.15 on Thursday, its highest level since early 2008.

Regency was the best performing stock among larger Jacksonville-based companies last year, producing a total return of 42 percent.

Please click here to view full article published on jaxdailyrecord.com.