Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) Trading Down 2.8%

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW)’s share price dropped 2.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $4.72 and last traded at $4.78. Approximately 2,173,861 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 18,683,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MPW. StockNews.com lowered Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 18th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Medical Properties Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $6.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Medical Properties Trust from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.38.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of -2.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.54. The company has a quick ratio of 3.10, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.54) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.75). The company had revenue of $266.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $259.53 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Medical Properties Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.64%. Medical Properties Trust’s payout ratio is presently -27.03%.

Insider Activity at Medical Properties Trust

In other news, Director Elizabeth N. Pitman sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.98, for a total transaction of $49,924.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,653 shares in the company, valued at $341,891.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Medical Properties Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 170,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Medical Properties Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $826,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 297,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,459,000 after buying an additional 16,632 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust acquired a new position in shares of Medical Properties Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $122,000. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Medical Properties Trust by 321.0% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 527,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 401,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

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.