Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on STWD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Starwood Property Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Starwood Property Trust from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Monday, August 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.70.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

STWD stock opened at $12.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.23. Starwood Property Trust has a one year low of $11.84 and a one year high of $18.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $201.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $521.67 million. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STWD. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Starwood Property Trust by 293.2% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter valued at $34,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 66.6% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 1,605.0% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 3,410 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 3,210 shares during the period. 49.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Starwood Property Trust

Starwood Property Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that focuses on commercial real estate finance and related investments. The company originates, acquires, and manages a range of real estate debt and equity investments, serving institutional borrowers, property owners, and developers.

Its portfolio and lending activities include senior mortgage loans, mezzanine debt, subordinated loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and other structured real estate investments.