Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 15th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th.

Medical Properties Trust has decreased its dividend by an average of 1.6% per year over the last three years. Medical Properties Trust has a payout ratio of 111.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Medical Properties Trust to earn $1.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.8%.

Medical Properties Trust Stock Performance

Shares of MPW stock opened at $4.74 on Tuesday. Medical Properties Trust has a 12 month low of $2.92 and a 12 month high of $10.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 2.26.

Institutional Trading of Medical Properties Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 1,247.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 4,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 4,266 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. purchased a new position in Medical Properties Trust during the 1st quarter worth $98,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Medical Properties Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Medical Properties Trust by 43.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “sell” rating and a $2.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Medical Properties Trust from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Colliers Securities downgraded shares of Medical Properties Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $4.25 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Medical Properties Trust in a report on Friday, January 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.48.

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.