Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Preferred Apartment (APTS) Completes The Ellison Acquisition

Read MoreHide Full Article

Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition of The Ellison, in Kennesaw, GA. The buyout of this 250-unit Class A multifamily community comes as part of the company’s effort to boost its portfolio with newly-constructed suburban Sunbelt properties.

Particularly, Kennesaw is a strong and growing submarket in the Atlanta MSA. Moreover, this community is located in the top-rated Cobb County school district. Also, there is limited news supply in the area. These are likely to have helped the property lure tenants and achieve 100% leasing that was attained in less than six months.

Notably, the Sunbelt suburban-focused residential properties were less affected by the pandemic and the economic shutdown. In fact, the pandemic has accelerated employment shifts and population inflow into the Sunbelt markets, as renters seek more business-friendly, lower taxed and low-density cities. These favorable longer-term secular dynamic trends are increasing the desirability of these markets.

Amid this, Preferred Apartment Communities’ acquisition of this Sunbelt property seems a strategic fit. In fact, addition of The Ellison to the company’s Sunbelt portfolio grows its total multifamily units to 11,393 and increases the multifamily units in the Atlanta MSA to 1,811, or 15.9% of its multifamily portfolio. With a solid portfolio, the company is expected to witness a decent peak leasing season.

According to Jeff Sherman, president of Multifamily at Preferred Apartment Communities or PAC, “The opportunity to acquire The Ellison came through a real estate loan investment that PAC made for the development of the community in 2019 and once again underscores the significant value from the embedded pipeline inherent in these loans.”

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 31.8% so far in the year, outperforming the industry’s 25.6% rally.

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Mack-Cali Realty Corporation’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 FFO per share moved up marginally over the past week. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

National Storage Affiliates Trust’s (NSA - Free Report) consensus estimate for the current-year FFO per share moved 4.7% north to $1.99 in a month’s time. Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (BHR - Free Report) holds a Zacks Rank of 2, at present. The consensus estimate for the ongoing year’s FFO per share has been revised 4.5% upward to 46 cents over the past month.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research SherazMian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

You know this company from its past glory days, but few would expect that it’s poised for a monster turnaround. Fresh from a successful repositioning and flush with A-list celeb endorsements, it could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in a little more than 9 months and Nvidia which boomed +175.9% in one year.

Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>


Unique Zacks Analysis of Your Chosen Ticker


Pick one free report - opportunity may be withdrawn at any time


National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

BRAEMAR HOTELS & RESORTS INC. (BHR) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Published in