Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Position in Ladder Capital Corp $LADR

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR) by 2.2%, selling 59,542 shares, and now owns 2,625,230 shares valued at approximately $29.95 million.
• Ladder Capital's stock has been given a mix of ratings, with one analyst rating it as "Strong Buy" and others issuing "Buy" and a "sell" rating, while the average target price is currently set at $12.75.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 8.0%, despite a dividend payout ratio of 131.43%.

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR - Free Report) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,625,230 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 59,542 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 2.07% of Ladder Capital worth $29,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LADR. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ladder Capital in the 1st quarter worth $22,261,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ladder Capital by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,777,974 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $19,896,000 after acquiring an additional 461,739 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Ladder Capital by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,955,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $79,361,000 after acquiring an additional 190,867 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ladder Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $1,979,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ladder Capital by 85.1% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 380,127 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,254,000 after purchasing an additional 174,724 shares during the last quarter. 62.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ladder Capital Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE LADR traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $11.51. The stock had a trading volume of 469,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 659,218. The company has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 31.28, a current ratio of 31.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.95. Ladder Capital Corp has a twelve month low of $9.68 and a twelve month high of $12.36.

Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $56.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.57 million. Ladder Capital had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 20.05%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ladder Capital Corp will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Ladder Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Ladder Capital's payout ratio is currently 131.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark David Alexander sold 34,587 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.12, for a total transaction of $384,607.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 86,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $956,586.88. The trade was a 28.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 91,382 shares of company stock valued at $1,003,501. Insiders own 12.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LADR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Ladder Capital from $11.75 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ladder Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ladder Capital currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.75.

Ladder Capital Profile

Ladder Capital Corp operates as an internally-managed real estate investment trust in the United States. It operates through three segments: Loans, Securities, and Real Estate. The Loans segment originates conduit first mortgage loans that are secured by cash-flowing commercial real estate; and originates and invests in balance sheet first mortgage loans secured by commercial real estate properties that are undergoing transition, including lease-up, sell-out, and renovation or repositioning.