Global Medical REIT (NYSE:GMRE) Board Declares Stock Repurchase Plan

Key Points

• Global Medical REIT's board has approved a $50 million stock repurchase plan, allowing the company to buy back up to 11.1% of its shares, signaling potential undervaluation.
• Analysts have recently downgraded the stock, with Wall Street Zen shifting from a "hold" to a "sell" rating, while the consensus target price is now set at $10.44.
• The company's dividend payout ratio is currently at 857.14%, indicating a high distribution relative to earnings, as they recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share.

Global Medical REIT (NYSE:GMRE - Get Free Report) declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GMRE. Wall Street Zen downgraded Global Medical REIT from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Global Medical REIT from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Medical REIT has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.44.

Global Medical REIT Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:GMRE traded up $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $6.78. 452,438 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 641,045. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Global Medical REIT has a 1-year low of $6.05 and a 1-year high of $10.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.42. The firm has a market cap of $453.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.15.

Global Medical REIT (NYSE:GMRE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. The company had revenue of $37.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.57 million. Global Medical REIT had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 7.32%. Research analysts anticipate that Global Medical REIT will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Medical REIT Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.8%. Global Medical REIT's payout ratio is currently 857.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Medical REIT news, CEO Mark Okey Decker, Jr. acquired 57,332 shares of Global Medical REIT stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $6.50 per share, for a total transaction of $372,658.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 160,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,040,000. This trade represents a 55.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.50% of the company's stock.

Global Medical REIT Company Profile

Global Medical REIT Inc (GMRE) is a net-lease medical office real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and acquires healthcare facilities and leases those facilities to physician groups and regional and national healthcare systems.

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