Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.70.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research downgraded Starwood Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $19.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Starwood Property Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th.

Insider Activity at Starwood Property Trust

In other news, Director Jeffrey G. Dishner sold 7,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.13, for a total transaction of $120,132.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 168,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,880,443.76. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 47,432 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 27,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 36,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.82% of the company’s stock.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:STWD opened at $16.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.91. The company has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.31, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.57. Starwood Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $16.76 and a fifty-two week high of $21.05.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $205.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $496.25 million. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 18.11% and a return on equity of 7.91%. The business’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starwood Property Trust declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy up to 6.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Starwood Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.4%. Starwood Property Trust’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

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.