UPDATE: Canaccord Genuity Upgrades American Campus Communities (ACC) to Buy

(Updated - February 8, 2016 10:51 AM EST)

Canaccord Genuity upgraded American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) from Hold to Buy with a price target of $48. Analyst Ryan Meliker noted that its recent offering reduces leverage.

"We have maintained a favorable view of the student housing sector for some time, driven by solid internal growth and highly attractive, low risk external growth opportunities that we expect to drive outsized medium term FFO growth. However, ACC's elevated leverage level and what we believed to be an equity overhang on the stock had prevented a more favorable view on ACC, until now," said Meliker.

"Last week, ACC raised $700M in an equity offering (including the shoe), reducing leverage to 5.8x 2016E EBITDA, in line with EDR at 5.6x. Based on the pricing of the offering (only a 2.7% discount) and the stock's performance immediately following (up 1.8% the day following the offering, 2.8% outperformance vs. the RMZ), we believe that investors were also excited to see ACC issue the shares. While we had hoped the offering would have come sooner, with the stock up over 7% over the past three months, it seems to have paid to wait," added the analyst.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on American Campus Communities click here. For more ratings news on American Campus Communities click here.

Shares of American Campus Communities closed at $43.02 yesterday.

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• META to capture largest share of users, SNAP to benefit from ad budget shifts - Canaccord Genuity weighs in on TikTok ban
• Amazon.com (AMZN) PT Raised to $215 at UBS
• Stifel Upgrades LeMaitre Vascular (LMAT) to Buy