Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Holdings in LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE:LTC)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE:LTC) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 298,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 12,637 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in LTC Properties were worth $10,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in LTC Properties by 132.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LTC Properties by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,060 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new position in LTC Properties in the third quarter worth about $283,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in LTC Properties by 78.2% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 84,398 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 37,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in LTC Properties by 148.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,228,000 after acquiring an additional 52,619 shares during the last quarter. 69.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LTC shares. Citizens Jmp upgraded LTC Properties from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities raised shares of LTC Properties from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of LTC Properties from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th.

LTC Properties Price Performance

Shares of LTC stock opened at $35.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.72. LTC Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.24 and a 52-week high of $39.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 11.60 and a current ratio of 11.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.74.

LTC Properties (NYSE:LTC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $34.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.25 million. LTC Properties had a net margin of 48.77% and a return on equity of 10.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LTC Properties, Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

LTC Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. LTC Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 111.22%.

About LTC Properties

LTC Properties, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in managing seniors housing and health care properties. It operates through the Texas, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Remaining States geographic segments. The company was founded by Andre C. Dimitriadis on May 12, 1992 and is headquartered in Westlake Village, CA.