Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on SAFE. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Safehold in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Safehold in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Safehold from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered Safehold from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $14.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $17.00 price objective on Safehold and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.00.

Safehold Stock Performance

Shares of SAFE opened at $13.68 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.99 and a 200 day moving average of $14.73. The company has a market capitalization of $981.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.84. Safehold has a 12 month low of $12.76 and a 12 month high of $19.53. The company has a current ratio of 36.91, a quick ratio of 36.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $96.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.25 million. Safehold had a return on equity of 4.78% and a net margin of 29.67%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Safehold will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Safehold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.177 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 30th. This represents a $0.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Safehold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safehold

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Safehold by 24.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,411,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,859,000 after acquiring an additional 279,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Safehold by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,341,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,878,000 after acquiring an additional 65,941 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Safehold by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 619,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,646,000 after buying an additional 27,395 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its position in Safehold by 137.4% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 486,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,534,000 after buying an additional 281,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Safehold by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 434,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,757,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the last quarter. 70.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc is a real estate investment trust that seeks to redefine land ownership for commercial property owners. The company acquires perpetual ground leases from landowners and structures long-term leaseback arrangements, enabling building owners to unlock the value of underlying land without relinquishing operational control of their properties. By separating land ownership from building ownership, Safehold offers an alternative to traditional mortgage financing and land sale–leaseback transactions.

Safehold’s portfolio spans multiple commercial real estate sectors, including office, multifamily, industrial and retail, with a focus on high-quality properties in major U.S.