Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) Stock Price Up 5.5% – Still a Buy?

Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC)’s stock price shot up 5.5% on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $5.42 and last traded at $5.4350. 1,024,784 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 1,649,065 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SVC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Loop Capital set a $9.00 price target on shares of Service Properties Trust in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Service Properties Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Service Properties Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price on shares of Service Properties Trust from $11.25 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Service Properties Trust from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.60.

Service Properties Trust Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market cap of $701.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.78 and a beta of 1.78. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $6.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.22.

Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ:SVC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by ($0.39). The company had revenue of $399.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $318.62 million. Service Properties Trust had a negative return on equity of 71.48% and a negative net margin of 29.31%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Service Properties Trust will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Service Properties Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 12th. Investors of record on Monday, October 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 19th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Service Properties Trust’s payout ratio is presently -2.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SVC. Yorkville Advisors Global LP purchased a new position in shares of Service Properties Trust during the first quarter worth about $28,333,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Service Properties Trust by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,338,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,169,000 after buying an additional 42,317 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Service Properties Trust during the second quarter worth approximately $3,691,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Service Properties Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,153,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Service Properties Trust during the second quarter worth about $543,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.62% of the company’s stock.

About Service Properties Trust

Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ: SVC) is a real estate investment trust that owns hotels and service-focused retail properties. Its hotel portfolio includes lodging properties operated by third-party management companies and affiliated with a range of hotel brands. Its retail properties are generally leased to businesses that provide services to travelers and local customers. The trust’s properties are located primarily in the United States. Service Properties Trust was formerly known as Hospitality Properties Trust, reflecting its earlier focus on hotels, before adopting its current name as its portfolio expanded to include service-focused retail real estate.