Starwood Property Trust (NYSE:STWD) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD – Get Rating) saw strong trading volume on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. 5,022,478 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 61% from the previous session’s volume of 3,127,515 shares.The stock last traded at $16.55 and had previously closed at $17.29.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. Starwood Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Starwood Property Trust in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group downgraded shares of Starwood Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Starwood Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.07.

Starwood Property Trust Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.83 and its 200 day moving average is $20.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 1.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,349,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $498,314,000 after acquiring an additional 474,537 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management LLC CT raised its stake in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 2.3% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management LLC CT now owns 5,127,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,424,000 after acquiring an additional 115,353 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 5.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,330,000 after buying an additional 231,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,150,140 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,072,000 after buying an additional 290,687 shares during the period. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 4.7% during the third quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,866,125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,221,000 after buying an additional 129,476 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 43.77% of the company’s stock.

About Starwood Property Trust

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Starwood Property Trust, Inc engages in originating, acquiring, financing and managing commercial mortgage loans and other commercial real estate debt and equity investments. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate Commercial and Residential Lending, Infrastructure Lending, Real Estate Property, and Real Estate Investing and Servicing.