Investors Getting Picky When It Comes To Buying Elme Communities (ELME)

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) does about 507.37K shares in volume on a normal day but saw 711480 shares change hands in the recent trading day. The company now has a market cap of 1.39B USD. Its current market price is $15.82, marking a decrease of -0.82% compared to the previous close of $15.95. The 52 week high reached by this stock is $18.49 whilst the lowest price level in 52 weeks is $12.74. The script in recent trading has seen the stock touch a high of $19 and a low of $19.

Elme Communities (ELME) has a 20-day trading average at $16.94 and the current price is -14.44% off the 52-week high compared with 24.18% distance from its 52-week low. The 50-day simple moving average of the closing price is $17.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.80. If we look at the stock’s price movements over the week, volatility stands at 2.53%, which decreases to 2.44% over 1 month. It is also key to look at other market indicators of price movement for the stock, where we see that the relative strength index (RSI) is at 31.69 to suggest the stock is neutral.

2 analysts observing the Elme Communities (ELME) stock have set the 12-month price targets for the company’s shares at between $19 and $19. The consensus objective for the share price is $18.00, suggesting that the stock has a potential upside of 12.11% over the period. The median price target is 16.74% away from the current levels at $19.

FactSet Research has provided data showing that 2 brokerages have issued ratings for the stock. 0 analysts have rated it as a sell, while 0 advise that it is a overweight. 0 analysts have rated it as a buy and 2 have advised that investors hold their positions. The consensus recommendation rating is Hold and Wall Street’s advice is for investors to Moderate Buy the stock.

JP Morgan upgraded the stock to “Overweight” from Neutral on December 18, 2023 at a price target of $16-$18.

The current price level is -6.62%, -8.17%, and 0.11% away from its SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200 respectively, with the ELME price moving above the 50-day SMA on current market day. Elme Communities (ELME) stock is down -8.18% over the week and -6.28% over the past month. Its price is 8.36% year-to-date and 19.94% over the past year.

The stock last released its quarterly earnings report for quarter ended 9/30/2024, with the company’s earnings per share (EPS) of -0.04 below consensus estimates by -0.06. The company’s next earnings report forecasts estimating quarterly EPS at -0.03 and -0.14 for whole year. Expected sales for next quarter are $60.63M, which analysts say will come at $240.19M for the current fiscal year and next year at $247.01M. In addition, estimates put the company’s current quarterly revenue at an average of $60.3M.

Its 12-month price target is $19. To reach the target analysts have set, the stock logically needs to grow 12.11 percent from here. Of course, the average price target is just what the average analysts believe a stock will be worth in the next 52 weeks, and is only one metric. There are analysts with lower targets than the average, including one bearish Wall Street research firm advocating investors to wait for the price to pull back to $19, given the recent momentum. And then, on the bullish side of things, one analyst is expecting the stock to peak at $19.

Outstanding shares total 87.87M with insiders holding 1.39% of the shares and institutional holders owning 91.09% of the company’s common stock. The company has a return on investment of -0.75% and return on equity of -1.16%. The beta has a value of 0.89. Price to book ratio is 1.27 and price to sales ratio is 5.81.