Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases 141,689 Shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. $STWD

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Starwood Property Trust by 5.5%, owning approximately 2.7 million shares valued at $53.8 million as of their recent SEC filing.
• Starwood Property Trust reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.43 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates of $0.41, but its revenue was down 9.3% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48, which will be paid on October 15th, resulting in a 9.6% yield for shareholders.

Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD - Free Report) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,719,027 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 141,689 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.81% of Starwood Property Trust worth $53,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on STWD. Wall Street Zen upgraded Starwood Property Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on Starwood Property Trust from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Starwood Property Trust from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Starwood Property Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.70.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of STWD traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,915,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,554. Starwood Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $16.59 and a one year high of $21.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.26. The stock's 50-day moving average is $20.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.74.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.02. Starwood Property Trust had a return on equity of 8.72% and a net margin of 20.58%.The company had revenue of $444.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $477.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Starwood Property Trust's revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Starwood Property Trust, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Starwood Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Starwood Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 176.15%.

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.