Insider Buying: SmartRent (NYSE:SMRT) Director Buys $261,000.00 in Stock

SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE:SMRT) Director Thomas Bohjalian purchased 150,000 shares of SmartRent stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $1.74 per share, for a total transaction of $261,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 500,000 shares in the company, valued at $870,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

SmartRent Trading Down 11.5%

SMRT traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $1.66. The company had a trading volume of 2,122,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 905,637. SmartRent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.67 and a twelve month high of $2.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.65.

SmartRent (NYSE:SMRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.01). SmartRent had a negative return on equity of 12.81% and a negative net margin of 39.76%.The company had revenue of $33.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.31 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SmartRent, Inc. will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SMRT. Zacks Research upgraded SmartRent from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of SmartRent in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $1.45.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartRent

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in SmartRent by 60.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 37,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC acquired a new stake in SmartRent during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in SmartRent by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 331,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,000 after acquiring an additional 15,124 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of SmartRent by 111.3% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 31,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 16,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steinberganna Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of SmartRent during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.42% of the company’s stock.

About SmartRent

SmartRent Inc is a technology company that develops smart home and smart building automation solutions for the residential rental housing industry. Its integrated hardware and software platform enables property managers and owners to remotely monitor, manage and control access, energy use and overall resident experience. The company’s product portfolio includes smart locks, thermostats, leak and flood sensors, door and window sensors, security cameras, and a centralized management dashboard that interfaces with leading property management systems.

SmartRent’s platform is designed to streamline operations for multifamily communities and single-family rental portfolios by automating routine tasks such as digital resident self-showings, remote lease turnovers, package management and preventative maintenance alerts.