Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) saw a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,760,000 shares, a drop of 22.1% from the October 31st total of 12,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on STWD shares. JMP Securities cut their price objective on Starwood Property Trust from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Starwood Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.50 to $22.50 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Starwood Property Trust from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of STWD. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Starwood Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Starwood Property Trust during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 54.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,263 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.82% of the company’s stock.

Starwood Property Trust Trading Up 0.3 %

STWD traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.37. The company had a trading volume of 915,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,295,220. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 1.70. Starwood Property Trust has a 52 week low of $18.43 and a 52 week high of $22.29.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $479.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $488.63 million. Starwood Property Trust had a net margin of 18.82% and a return on equity of 9.93%. The business’s revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.