Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.90.

STWD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a report on Friday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Starwood Property Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of Starwood Property Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 16,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 47,432 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 11.5% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Starwood Property Trust by 2.3% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 27,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Starwood Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE:STWD opened at $17.48 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.45. Starwood Property Trust has a 12 month low of $16.59 and a 12 month high of $21.05. The firm has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.01. Starwood Property Trust had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 22.32%.The business had revenue of $492.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.53 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starwood Property Trust announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire up to 6.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Starwood Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.0%. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 165.52%.

About Starwood Property Trust

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that specializes in originating, acquiring and managing commercial mortgage loans and other real estate-related investments. The company’s portfolio spans a variety of asset classes, including senior mortgages, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and direct equity investments in commercial properties. By focusing on both debt and equity capital solutions, Starwood Property Trust seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.

Operating primarily in the United States, Starwood Property Trust deploys capital across a broad range of property types, such as multifamily residential, office, retail, hotel and industrial.