Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) Shares Up 6.9% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE - Get Free Report) shot up 6.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $17.76 and last traded at $17.70. 275,323 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 528,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on SAFE. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Safehold from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Safehold from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $19.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Safehold in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Safehold in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Safehold from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $25.56.

Safehold Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.18 and a 200 day moving average of $21.71. The company has a quick ratio of 37.83, a current ratio of 37.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36. Safehold had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 28.92%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Safehold Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safehold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a $0.177 dividend. This represents a $0.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. Safehold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAFE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Safehold by 16.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 662,179 shares of the company's stock worth $17,369,000 after acquiring an additional 91,965 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Safehold during the third quarter worth about $639,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Safehold by 6.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 687,718 shares of the company's stock worth $18,039,000 after acquiring an additional 39,320 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Safehold by 317.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 85,932 shares of the company's stock worth $2,254,000 after acquiring an additional 65,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Safehold by 3.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,247,740 shares of the company's stock worth $32,734,000 after acquiring an additional 38,074 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.38% of the company's stock.

Safehold Company Profile

Safehold Inc NYSE: SAFE is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk.