Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Stock Position in Starwood Property Trust, Inc. $STWD

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 521,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 143,237 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Starwood Property Trust were worth $9,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STWD. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Starwood Property Trust by 157.3% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,702,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $66,690,000 after buying an additional 2,263,856 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Starwood Property Trust by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,976,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $638,752,000 after buying an additional 2,193,085 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,457,000. HRT Financial LP boosted its position in Starwood Property Trust by 315.4% in the 2nd quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 713,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,318,000 after buying an additional 541,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,490,000. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STWD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Friday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Starwood Property Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Starwood Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Starwood Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Starwood Property Trust news, Director Jeffrey G. Dishner sold 7,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.13, for a total value of $120,132.69. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 168,152 shares in the company, valued at $2,880,443.76. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Starwood Property Trust Price Performance

STWD opened at $17.08 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.92. Starwood Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.78 and a fifty-two week high of $21.05. The firm has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.31.

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

Starwood Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 200.00%.

Starwood Property Trust announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 6.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Starwood Property Trust Company Profile

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.