Medical Properties Trust Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:MPW)

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 191,032 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 188% compared to the typical volume of 66,320 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Medical Properties Trust from $8.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Medical Properties Trust from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Colliers Securities cut shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $4.25 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Medical Properties Trust

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,655,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,158,910 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $774,593,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800,294 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 880.2% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,951,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,536,000 after purchasing an additional 3,548,423 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,630,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 175.3% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,850,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,797,000 after purchasing an additional 2,451,617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

Medical Properties Trust Price Performance

MPW opened at $5.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 2.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of -5.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.20. Medical Properties Trust has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year high of $10.74.

Medical Properties Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. Medical Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -63.83%.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, the Company has grown to become one of the world's largest owners of hospital real estate with 441 facilities and approximately 44,000 licensed beds as of September 30, 2023.