UBS Group Lowers Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) Price Target to $3.50

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $5.25 to $3.50 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 51.19% from the stock’s current price.

CMTG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Claros Mortgage Trust from $4.00 to $2.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Claros Mortgage Trust from $8.00 to $3.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.88.

Claros Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of CMTG traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $2.32. The stock had a trading volume of 95,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 613,163. Claros Mortgage Trust has a 12 month low of $2.13 and a 12 month high of $9.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $3.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 20.68 and a current ratio of 25.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.63 million, a PE ratio of -1.44 and a beta of 1.12.

Claros Mortgage Trust (NYSE:CMTG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.03. Claros Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 89.07% and a positive return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $60.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.07 million. Research analysts expect that Claros Mortgage Trust will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Claros Mortgage Trust

In other Claros Mortgage Trust news, CFO Mike Mcgillis acquired 24,115 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.30 per share, with a total value of $79,579.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 475,945 shares in the company, valued at $1,570,618.50. This trade represents a 5.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard Mack bought 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.38 per share, for a total transaction of $84,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,589,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,754,135.78. This represents a 0.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 169,115 shares of company stock valued at $547,930 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Koch Inc. bought a new position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,374,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Claros Mortgage Trust by 236.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 479,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 336,931 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,679,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,592,000 after acquiring an additional 277,053 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Claros Mortgage Trust by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 568,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,571,000 after buying an additional 217,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Claros Mortgage Trust by 332.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 138,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 106,289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.