Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) Short Interest Update

Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of 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 daily trading volume, of 2,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Starwood Property Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Starwood Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $20.50 to $22.50 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JMP Securities cut their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Starwood Property Trust from $19.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Starwood Property Trust from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Starwood Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.25.

Starwood Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of STWD stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.37. The company had a trading volume of 915,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,209,496. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.80. Starwood Property Trust has a one year low of $18.43 and a one year high of $22.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 1.70.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.05. Starwood Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.93% and a net margin of 18.82%. The firm had revenue of $479.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $488.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Starwood Property Trust will post 1.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Starwood Property Trust

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Starwood Property Trust by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 177,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 9,208 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Starwood Property Trust by 70.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 334,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,808,000 after buying an additional 137,923 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in Starwood Property Trust by 236.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 126,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after acquiring an additional 88,731 shares during the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its stake in Starwood Property Trust by 9.3% during the second quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 35,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $666,000 after acquiring an additional 3,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. 49.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.