Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:CMTG) shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $11.00 to $9.50. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Claros Mortgage Trust traded as low as $8.82 and last traded at $9.07, with a volume of 25602 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.51.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CMTG. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $11.50 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $10.75 to $9.75 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.06.

Institutional Trading of Claros Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the first quarter valued at about $104,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the first quarter valued at about $251,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the first quarter valued at about $137,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at about $729,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at about $2,196,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Claros Mortgage Trust Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 475.74 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 25.03 and a quick ratio of 25.03.

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.19. Claros Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.97% and a return on equity of 2.01%. The company had revenue of $75.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.79 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Claros Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Claros Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 5,002.50%.

Claros Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders.