Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:CMTG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:CMTG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.38.

CMTG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $9.75 to $9.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th.

Claros Mortgage Trust Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CMTG opened at $9.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 26.27, a current ratio of 26.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. Claros Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $6.80 and a 52-week high of $15.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.31 and a beta of 1.52.

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. Claros Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 28.16% and a positive return on equity of 1.51%. The company had revenue of $58.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.64 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Claros Mortgage Trust will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Claros Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Claros Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -161.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard Mack acquired 44,000 shares of Claros Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.25 per share, for a total transaction of $319,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,435,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,659,934.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard Mack acquired 44,000 shares of Claros Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.25 per share, for a total transaction of $319,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,435,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,659,934.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vincent Tese acquired 5,000 shares of Claros Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $7.26 per share, for a total transaction of $36,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,560. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 193,000 shares of company stock worth $1,393,140 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Claros Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Claros Mortgage Trust by 9.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 408,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,278,000 after buying an additional 36,911 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Claros Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Claros Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at $121,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Claros Mortgage Trust by 9.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 81,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 7,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Claros Mortgage Trust in the first quarter valued at $140,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Claros Mortgage Trust

Claros Mortgage Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust. It focuses on originating senior and subordinate loans on transitional commercial real estate assets in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders.