H&R sharpens its focus

Article Excerpt

H&R REIT, $9.61, is a buy. Through your units in this REIT (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 262.0 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.2%; www.hr-reit.com) you tap income from 382 residential, industrial, office and retail properties in Canada and the U.S. The trust’s occupancy rate is a solid 96.4%. H&R is now shifting its focus to residential properties in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and U.S. Sun Belt and Gateway cities (generally home to corporate headquarters, and large educational and cultural institutions). Under that plan, the REIT is selling less-important properties. Those include the recent sale of its 50% ownership interest in a Burnaby, B.C., office building for $82.5 million. In all, the REIT expects to sell $411.7 million worth of its properties in 2024. That will help it pay down its total debt of $3.77 billion (as of March 31, 2024), which is a high 1.5 times its market cap of $2.6 billion. H&R REIT is a buy. buy…