Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 96,573 Shares of Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,020,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 96,573 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.58% of Ladder Capital worth $23,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LADR. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Ladder Capital by 1.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,767,687 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $78,505,000 after buying an additional 108,079 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ladder Capital by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,994,537 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,411,000 after acquiring an additional 54,598 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ladder Capital by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,649,699 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,743,000 after purchasing an additional 8,178 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ladder Capital by 1.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,640,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,028,000 after purchasing an additional 15,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ladder Capital by 0.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,633,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,944,000 after purchasing an additional 4,282 shares during the period. 62.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ladder Capital Trading Up 1.4 %

Ladder Capital stock opened at $11.45 on Thursday. Ladder Capital Corp has a 12 month low of $10.10 and a 12 month high of $12.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07 and a beta of 1.93. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.63. The company has a current ratio of 54.44, a quick ratio of 54.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.04. Ladder Capital had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The business had revenue of $128.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.85 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ladder Capital Corp will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ladder Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Ladder Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $13.50 price objective on shares of Ladder Capital in a research report on Friday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.33.

About Ladder Capital

Ladder Capital Corp operates as an internally-managed real estate investment trust in the United States. It operates through three segments: Loans, Securities, and Real Estate. The Loans segment originates conduit first mortgage loans that are secured by cash-flowing commercial real estate; and originates and invests in balance sheet first mortgage loans secured by commercial real estate properties that are undergoing transition, including lease-up, sell-out, and renovation or repositioning.