Starwood Property Trust, Inc. $STWD Position Increased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) by 8.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,046,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 246,741 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Starwood Property Trust were worth $49,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $382,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Starwood Property Trust by 1,492.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,729,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,222,000 after acquiring an additional 6,306,591 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter worth about $848,000. AlphaGrep UK Ltd acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $373,000. Finally, William John Sempolinski bought a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $617,000. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on STWD shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $20.00 price objective on Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Starwood Property Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised Starwood Property Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Starwood Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.20.

Starwood Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STWD opened at $16.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $16.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.09. Starwood Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.48 and a 52 week high of $20.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. Starwood Property Trust had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 11.35%.The business had revenue of $201.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $521.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Starwood Property Trust, Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Starwood Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Starwood Property Trust’s payout ratio is 325.42%.

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.