Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) Director Sells $178,978.80 in Stock

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) Director Michael G. Stewart sold 32,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.46, for a total value of $178,978.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 221,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,207,997.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Performance

MPW stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.17. 14,108,883 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,537,033. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $2.92 and a one year high of $6.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 2.93.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.54) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.75). The company had revenue of $266.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $259.53 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Medical Properties Trust Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Medical Properties Trust’s payout ratio is -14.41%.

Institutional Trading of Medical Properties Trust

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 8.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,058,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $437,373,000 after buying an additional 7,084,981 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Medical Properties Trust by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,622,683 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,168,000 after purchasing an additional 328,184 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,908,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274,481 shares during the period. Coatue Management LLC grew its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 6,806,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilsey Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 27.2% during the second quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,376,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,861,000 after purchasing an additional 936,631 shares during the period. 71.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MPW. Colliers Securities upgraded Medical Properties Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Medical Properties Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $6.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Medical Properties Trust from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Medical Properties Trust to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.22.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023.