StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Great Ajax (NYSE:AJX)

Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Great Ajax (NYSE:AJX) in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Separately, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Great Ajax in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company.

Great Ajax Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.35. The stock has a market cap of $137.17 million, a P/E ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.88. Great Ajax has a one year low of $2.92 and a one year high of $6.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Great Ajax (NYSE:AJX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by $0.26. Great Ajax had a negative return on equity of 8.35% and a negative net margin of 203.61%. The business had revenue of $12.35 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Great Ajax will post -2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Great Ajax

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Great Ajax by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,332,822 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,758,000 after purchasing an additional 848,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Great Ajax by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,217,207 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,625,000 after purchasing an additional 114,046 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Great Ajax by 42.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 460,256 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 137,578 shares in the last quarter. Raffles Associates LP raised its position in shares of Great Ajax by 82.7% in the third quarter. Raffles Associates LP now owns 73,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 33,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Great Ajax during the second quarter valued at approximately $98,000. 58.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Great Ajax Company Profile

Great Ajax Corp. operates as a mortgage real estate investment trust. It acquires re-performing and non-performing loans; acquires or originates small balance commercial mortgage loans that are secured by multi-family residential and commercial mixed use retail/residential properties; and invests in single-family and smaller commercial properties.