Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) Short Interest Down 14.4% in December

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SAFE. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of Safehold in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Safehold from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Safehold from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised shares of Safehold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Safehold from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

Safehold Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SAFE opened at $17.06 on Friday. Safehold has a 52-week low of $15.55 and a 52-week high of $28.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.59 and a 200-day moving average of $22.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 37.83, a current ratio of 37.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.37. Safehold had a net margin of 32.08% and a return on equity of 4.79%. The company had revenue of $90.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Safehold will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Safehold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.177 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Safehold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Safehold

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Safehold by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Safehold by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Safehold by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Safehold by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 1,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Safehold by 79.3% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.38% of the company’s stock.

About Safehold

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.