Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) Short Interest Update

Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,320,000 shares, a decline of 14.4% from the December 15th total of 3,880,000 shares. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 407,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Safehold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAFE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Safehold by 16.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 662,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 91,965 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Safehold in the third quarter valued at about $639,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Safehold by 317.9% in 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Safehold by 3.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,247,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,734,000 after acquiring an additional 38,074 shares during the last quarter. 70.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Safehold Stock Performance

SAFE stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.01. 315,802 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 474,754. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.15. Safehold has a one year low of $15.55 and a one year high of $28.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 37.83 and a quick ratio of 37.83.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The company had revenue of $90.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.45 million. Safehold had a return on equity of 4.79% and a net margin of 32.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Safehold will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Safehold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.177 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Safehold’s dividend payout ratio is 41.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SAFE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Safehold from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Safehold in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Safehold from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Safehold in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

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.