Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) Short Interest Up 27.3% in March

Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,410,000 shares, a growth of 27.3% from the March 15th total of 12,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days. Approximately 4.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STWD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Starwood Property Trust from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Starwood Property Trust from $19.50 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Starwood Property Trust by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,943,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $586,375,000 after acquiring an additional 377,939 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 16.2% during 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Starwood Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,044,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Starwood Property Trust by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,669,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,593,000 after buying an additional 10,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Starwood Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth $48,841,000. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

STWD opened at $18.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.55. The stock has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58 and a beta of 1.34. Starwood Property Trust has a 1-year low of $16.59 and a 1-year high of $21.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

Starwood Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.55%.

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.