Short Interest in Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) Declines By 14.4%

Safehold Inc. (NYSE:SAFE) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 407,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.1 days. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SAFE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (down from $25.00) on shares of Safehold in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Safehold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Safehold from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Safehold in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Safehold by 35.4% during the third 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 during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Safehold by 5.8% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,893 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Safehold by 108.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Safehold by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 1,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Safehold by 79.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.38% of the company’s stock.

Safehold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SAFE traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $17.06. The company had a trading volume of 566,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,678. Safehold has a 12 month low of $15.55 and a 12 month high of $28.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 37.83 and a quick ratio of 37.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.20.

Safehold (NYSE:SAFE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. The company had revenue of $90.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.45 million. Safehold had a return on equity of 4.79% and a net margin of 32.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Safehold will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Safehold Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. Safehold’s payout ratio is 41.76%.

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.