Whittier Trust Co. Boosts Holdings in Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD)

Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) by 0.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 160,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Starwood Property Trust were worth $3,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,852,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $606,480,000 after buying an additional 72,461 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,447,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,246,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,216,000 after purchasing an additional 58,836 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Starwood Property Trust by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,929,579 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,560,000 after purchasing an additional 52,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Starwood Property Trust by 4.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 1,386,747 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,193,000 after purchasing an additional 64,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $20.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Starwood Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $23.50 to $23.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.00 to $20.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.79.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of STWD opened at $20.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.69. Starwood Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.07 and a 12-month high of $22.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 10.03%. The firm had revenue of $489.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $505.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Starwood Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 138.13%.

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.