Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) to “Outperform”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has $22.50 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $20.50.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on STWD. BTIG Research reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $23.50 to $23.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $20.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.07.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:STWD opened at $19.65 on Thursday. Starwood Property Trust has a 52 week low of $17.07 and a 52 week high of $22.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 10.03%. The firm had revenue of $489.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $505.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starwood Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.77%. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 138.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STWD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,447,000. NFC Investments LLC acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,237,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,276,000. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in Starwood Property Trust by 836.9% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 437,819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,203,000 after purchasing an additional 391,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,455,000. Institutional investors own 49.82% of the company’s stock.

About Starwood Property Trust

Starwood Property Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Commercial and Residential Lending, Infrastructure Lending, Property, and Investing and Servicing segments. The Commercial and Residential Lending segment originates, acquires, finances, and manages commercial first mortgages, non-agency residential mortgages, subordinated mortgages, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as other real estate and real estate-related debt investments, include distressed or non-performing loans.