Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) Stock Passes Below 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR) passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.17 and traded as low as $9.93. Ladder Capital shares last traded at $9.9650, with a volume of 843,752 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LADR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Ladder Capital from $11.50 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ladder Capital from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ladder Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ladder Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.75.

Ladder Capital Stock Up 0.2%

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 58.90 and a current ratio of 58.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.95.

Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The company had revenue of $51.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.03 million. Ladder Capital had a net margin of 13.82% and a return on equity of 5.73%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ladder Capital Corp will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ladder Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Ladder Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 209.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Robert Perelman sold 17,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.25, for a total transaction of $179,426.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 428,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,394,011. The trade was a 3.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 12.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ladder Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ladder Capital by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,275,047 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,993,000 after acquiring an additional 474,982 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ladder Capital by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,930,524 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,206,000 after buying an additional 682,511 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ladder Capital by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,666,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,090,000 after acquiring an additional 61,292 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ladder Capital by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 2,208,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,275,000 after buying an additional 225,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ladder Capital by 50.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,391,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,289,000 after purchasing an additional 467,545 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.25% of the company’s stock.

About Ladder Capital

Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE: LADR) is a publicly traded commercial real estate finance company structured as a real estate investment trust. The firm specializes in originating, acquiring and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial mortgage loans, subordinate financings such as mezzanine loans and B-notes, and equity investments. In addition to direct lending activities, Ladder Capital invests in and manages commercial mortgage‐backed securities (CMBS) and commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations (CRE CLOs), providing financing across a range of property types including office, retail, multifamily, industrial and hospitality assets.

Since its inception in 2008, Ladder Capital has developed a platform that supports both balance-sheet lending and structured securitization.