Wall Street Zen Upgrades Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) to "Hold"

Key Points

• Starwood Property Trust has been upgraded from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a more favorable outlook for the stock.
• Analyst ratings are generally positive, with two hold ratings and four buy ratings, while UBS and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target prices to $20.00 and $22.00, respectively.
• Starwood Property Trust's most recent earnings report showed an earnings per share of $0.45, missing the consensus estimate and reflecting a decline from the previous year's $0.59 per share.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $21.70.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE STWD traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.88. 1,346,763 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,917,169. Starwood Property Trust has a 12 month low of $16.59 and a 12 month high of $21.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.69.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.02. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 8.72%. The firm had revenue of $444.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $477.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $765,811,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,841,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,287,030 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $100,189,000 after purchasing an additional 736,699 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 124.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,102,847 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $22,060,000 after purchasing an additional 611,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 469.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 685,017 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $13,748,000 after purchasing an additional 564,651 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.82% of the company's stock.

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.