Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Medical Properties Trust Put Options (NYSE:MPW)

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 120,512 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 97% compared to the average daily volume of 61,211 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MPW. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Medical Properties Trust from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Medical Properties Trust from $6.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Medical Properties Trust to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Medical Properties Trust

In other news, CAO James Kevin Hanna sold 11,641 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.72, for a total transaction of $43,304.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 366,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,364,916.36. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Medical Properties Trust

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Silver Point Capital L.P. raised its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 155.3% in the third quarter. Silver Point Capital L.P. now owns 6,000,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,100,000 after buying an additional 3,650,000 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 353.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,525,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,625,000 after buying an additional 2,748,245 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,704,785 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,973,000 after acquiring an additional 303,628 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,367,257 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 192,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Up 2.6 %

MPW stock opened at $3.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.65. Medical Properties Trust has a 1-year low of $2.92 and a 1-year high of $6.55.

Medical Properties Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.14%. Medical Properties Trust’s payout ratio is currently -7.58%.

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.