Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $14.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on SAFE. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Safehold from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Safehold from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Safehold from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Safehold in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Safehold from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Safehold currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.43.

Safehold Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE:SAFE opened at $12.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 34.36 and a current ratio of 34.37. The company has a market cap of $869.74 million, a PE ratio of 7.58, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.73. Safehold has a 52-week low of $12.21 and a 52-week high of $17.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.15.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. Safehold had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 27.70%.The firm had revenue of $114.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.78 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Safehold will post 1.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Safehold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.1770 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Safehold’s payout ratio is 43.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robin Josephs sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.56, for a total value of $138,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 89,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,830.08. This represents a 9.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safehold

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Safehold in the second quarter valued at $1,077,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Safehold during the 2nd quarter worth about $658,000. Corient Private Wealth LP increased its stake in shares of Safehold by 37.6% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 15,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,171 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Safehold during the 2nd quarter worth about $189,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Safehold by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 109,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 7,370 shares during the period. 70.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Safehold

Safehold Inc (NYSE: SAFE) is a real estate investment trust focused on owning and managing ground leases. Through its ground lease structure, Safehold acquires the land beneath commercial real estate properties and leases it to property owners under long-term agreements, allowing those owners to retain ownership of and operate the buildings on the sites.

The company’s ground lease investments support a range of property types, including multifamily housing, office buildings, hotels, life sciences facilities, student housing, industrial properties and retail assets.