Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) Receives $5.50 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Medical Properties Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Medical Properties Trust from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medical Properties Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 389.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,171,363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,536,000 after purchasing an additional 7,296,680 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 787.8% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,119,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,744,000 after purchasing an additional 1,880,422 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the 1st quarter worth $7,311,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Medical Properties Trust by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,020,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,424,000 after buying an additional 1,182,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Medical Properties Trust by 8,881.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 998,410 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,062,000 after buying an additional 987,294 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Medical Properties Trust stock opened at $5.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.76. Medical Properties Trust has a 1 year low of $3.51 and a 1 year high of $6.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $5.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 1.42.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS 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 business had revenue of $237.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $244.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior 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, research analysts expect that Medical Properties Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medical Properties Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. This is an increase from Medical Properties Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -30.51%.

Medical Properties Trust Company 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.