Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) Stock Price

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut its price target on Starwood Property Trust from $16 to $15 but maintained an “outperform” rating; the new target implies about 19.7% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target of $18.50, while ratings range from strong buy to sell.
• Shares opened at $12.53, below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. In its latest reported quarter, the REIT met EPS expectations at $0.40, while revenue rose 15.6% year over year.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.68% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $20.00 target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Monday, August 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Starwood Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Starwood Property Trust from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Starwood Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.50.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Down 0.6%

STWD opened at $12.53 on Wednesday. Starwood Property Trust has a 1-year low of $11.84 and a 1-year high of $18.66. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.03.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The firm had revenue of $201.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $521.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STWD. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 882,760.9% during the 1st quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 112,176,302 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,931,676,000 after buying an additional 112,163,596 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $589,366,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $70,121,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Starwood Property Trust by 8.8% in the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,046,542 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $49,902,000 after acquiring an additional 246,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $38,498,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.82% of the company's stock.

Starwood Property Trust Company Profile

Starwood Property Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that focuses on commercial real estate finance and related investments. The company originates, acquires, and manages a range of real estate debt and equity investments, serving institutional borrowers, property owners, and developers.

Its portfolio and lending activities include senior mortgage loans, mezzanine debt, subordinated loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and other structured real estate investments.

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