D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 126,505 Shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. $MPW

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) by 139.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 216,958 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 126,505 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Medical Properties Trust were worth $1,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 14.0% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 349,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 42,852 shares during the last quarter. Edmp Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 211,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 14,392 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 62,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 6,988 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Medical Properties Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $131,000. Finally, waypoint wealth counsel bought a new position in Medical Properties Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $84,000. 71.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MPW. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $6.17.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Down 0.5%

MPW stock opened at $5.42 on Monday. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.51 and a twelve month high of $6.34. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of -4.59 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.82.

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 75.76% and a negative return on equity of 14.82%. The firm had revenue of $237.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.89 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Medical Properties Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is an increase from Medical Properties Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 11th. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -30.51%.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, financing, and owning net-leased hospital facilities. Through sale-leaseback transactions, direct acquisitions and recapitalizations, the company provides capital to healthcare operators while maintaining long-term, triple-net lease agreements. Its portfolio encompasses general acute care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and other healthcare-related real estate assets and is structured to deliver stable, long-duration rental income streams.

Founded in 2003 and based in Birmingham, Alabama, Medical Properties Trust completed its initial public offering in 2004.