Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPT) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $1.92 and last traded at $1.93, with a volume of 2,948,831 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $2.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Medical Properties Trust from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $4.50 to $2.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Medical Properties Trust from $5.00 to $3.80 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Medical Properties Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Medical Properties Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.25 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $2.68.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.31. The company has a current ratio of 3.92, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $250.14 million for the quarter. Medical Properties Trust had a net margin of 24.14% and a return on equity of 5.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medical Properties Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 19.0%. Medical Properties Trust’s payout ratio is 87.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Medical Properties Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the second quarter valued at about $347,673,000. State Street Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the second quarter worth about $118,522,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the second quarter worth about $33,903,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Medical Properties Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,483,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Medical Properties Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,285,000. 71.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Medical Properties Trust

Medical Properties Trust, Inc is a healthcare-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and invests in healthcare facilities. Its portfolio has historically included hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term acute-care hospitals, behavioral health facilities and other properties used by healthcare providers.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, the company primarily generates income by leasing properties to healthcare operators under long-term agreements.