Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) Stock Falls 6.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPT) fell 6.2% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $2.08 and last traded at $2.11. Approximately 6,322,658 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 7,899,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MPT. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Medical Properties Trust from $5.00 to $3.80 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Medical Properties Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $2.25 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut Medical Properties Trust from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $4.50 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One research 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, Medical Properties Trust has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $2.68.

Medical Properties Trust Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 3.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.32.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.02). Medical Properties Trust had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 24.14%. The company had revenue of $250.14 million for the quarter. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. Medical Properties Trust’s payout ratio is presently 87.80%.

Institutional Trading of Medical Properties Trust

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MPT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Medical Properties Trust during the 2nd quarter worth about $347,673,000. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the second quarter valued at about $118,522,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the second quarter valued at about $33,903,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the second quarter valued at about $30,483,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Medical Properties Trust during the second quarter worth about $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.