Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,050 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,093 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Safehold worth $4,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Safehold by 266.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 349,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,171,000 after buying an additional 254,227 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Safehold by 1,683.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 227,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,209,000 after acquiring an additional 214,979 shares in the last quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Safehold in the third quarter worth approximately $3,683,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Safehold by 16.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 662,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 91,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HGI Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Safehold by 74.5% during the third quarter. HGI Capital Management LLC now owns 212,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,584,000 after purchasing an additional 90,866 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Safehold from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $19.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Safehold from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Safehold in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Safehold in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Safehold has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.56.

Safehold Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of SAFE opened at $18.09 on Tuesday. Safehold Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.55 and a 12-month high of $28.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22 and a beta of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.17. The company has a current ratio of 36.59, a quick ratio of 36.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.36. Safehold had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 4.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Safehold Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Safehold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.177 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $0.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Safehold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.30%.

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.