Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New $69,000 Investment in Medical Properties Trust, Inc. $MPW

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $69,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Medical Properties Trust during the first quarter worth about $417,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $617,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 27.3% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,903,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,481,000 after acquiring an additional 408,133 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 295.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,743,970 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,049,268 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Medical Properties Trust by 126.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 107,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 60,061 shares in the last quarter. 71.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Medical Properties Trust from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Medical Properties Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $5.50.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MPW opened at $5.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.42 and a beta of 1.42. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.51 and a 52-week high of $6.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.69.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.03). Medical Properties Trust had a negative net margin of 155.20% and a negative return on equity of 28.80%. The firm had revenue of $237.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medical Properties Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. This is an increase from Medical Properties Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -30.51%.

Medical Properties Trust Profile

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023.