Short Interest in Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) Grows By 16.2%

Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,100,000 shares, an increase of 16.2% from the February 13th total of 6,110,000 shares. Currently, 4.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Service Properties Trust Price Performance

Shares of SVC stock opened at $2.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $498.24 million, a P/E ratio of -2.03 and a beta of 2.20. Service Properties Trust has a fifty-two week low of $2.29 and a fifty-two week high of $6.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $2.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.03.

Service Properties Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 27th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Service Properties Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -2.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Service Properties Trust from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $2.50 to $4.00 in a research report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Service Properties Trust

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Service Properties Trust by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,616 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Service Properties Trust by 38.8% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 5,056 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Service Properties Trust by 2.6% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 211,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $963,000 after purchasing an additional 5,400 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Service Properties Trust by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 72,589 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 8,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Service Properties Trust by 39.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 33,222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 9,463 shares in the last quarter. 77.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Service Properties Trust Company Profile

Service Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SVC) is a real estate investment trust with over $11 billion invested in two asset categories: hotels and service-focused retail net lease properties. As of December 31, 2023, SVC owned 221 hotels with over 37,000 guest rooms throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico and Canada, the majority of which are extended stay and select service.