Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) Receives $6.17 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.1667.

MPW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Medical Properties Trust from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th.

Institutional Trading of Medical Properties Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 389.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,171,363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,536,000 after purchasing an additional 7,296,680 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,363,843 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,332,000 after buying an additional 28,860 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in Medical Properties Trust by 6.4% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 7,219,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,604,000 after buying an additional 436,151 shares in the last quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,854,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,275,000 after acquiring an additional 614,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 11.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,086,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,644,000 after acquiring an additional 410,374 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:MPW opened at $5.21 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of -4.42 and a beta of 1.43. Medical Properties Trust has a fifty-two week low of $3.93 and a fifty-two week high of $6.34.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.03). Medical Properties Trust had a negative net margin of 75.76% and a negative return on equity of 14.82%. The company had revenue of $237.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Medical Properties Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medical Properties Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 11th. This is a positive change from Medical Properties Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -30.51%.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, financing, and owning net-leased hospital facilities. Through sale-leaseback transactions, direct acquisitions and recapitalizations, the company provides capital to healthcare operators while maintaining long-term, triple-net lease agreements. Its portfolio encompasses general acute care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and other healthcare-related real estate assets and is structured to deliver stable, long-duration rental income streams.

Founded in 2003 and based in Birmingham, Alabama, Medical Properties Trust completed its initial public offering in 2004.