Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT) Cut to Strong Sell at Wall Street Zen

Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on GPMT. Compass Point set a $2.05 target price on Granite Point Mortgage Trust in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised Granite Point Mortgage Trust to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust from $2.75 to $2.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.68.

Granite Point Mortgage Trust Stock Down 1.4%

GPMT opened at $1.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 1.71. Granite Point Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $1.61 and a twelve month high of $3.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $2.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.55.

Granite Point Mortgage Trust (NYSE:GPMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.10. Granite Point Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 31.24% and a negative return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $10.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.22 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Granite Point Mortgage Trust will post -2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Point Mortgage Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Granite Point Mortgage Trust by 9,425.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,007,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after buying an additional 996,647 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust by 1,020.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 720,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after acquiring an additional 656,164 shares in the last quarter. Truffle Hound Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $988,000. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $560,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Point Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $440,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.63% of the company’s stock.

About Granite Point Mortgage Trust

Granite Point Mortgage Trust, Inc is a specialty finance company that invests directly in commercial real estate debt. The company focuses on originating, acquiring and managing senior preferred and mezzanine loans secured by income-producing real estate across diverse property types, including multifamily, office, industrial and retail assets. Granite Point Mortgage Trust operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), providing investors with exposure to floating-rate commercial mortgage loan investments.

Granite Point’s investment strategy centers on structuring loans to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns, with portfolio allocations spanning senior loans, B-notes and mezzanine financings.