State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Stake in Ladder Capital Corp $LADR

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE:LADR) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 184,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,342 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ladder Capital were worth $1,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Ladder Capital by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 180,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,427 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ladder Capital by 48.0% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 245,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 79,743 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in Ladder Capital by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 415,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,470,000 after purchasing an additional 108,810 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Ladder Capital during the 2nd quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Ladder Capital by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 438,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,714,000 after purchasing an additional 52,010 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LADR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ladder Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Ladder Capital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ladder Capital from $11.75 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ladder Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ladder Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Ladder Capital Stock Performance

Shares of LADR opened at $10.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 35.60, a quick ratio of 31.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.87. Ladder Capital Corp has a 12-month low of $9.68 and a 12-month high of $12.10.

Ladder Capital (NYSE:LADR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $57.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.90 million. Ladder Capital had a return on equity of 6.70% and a net margin of 19.26%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ladder Capital Corp will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ladder Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Ladder Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 146.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ladder Capital

In related news, Director Jeffrey B. Steiner sold 19,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.89, for a total transaction of $212,148.09. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,416.79. This trade represents a 41.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 12.00% of the company’s stock.

About Ladder Capital

Ladder Capital Corp operates as an internally-managed real estate investment trust in the United States. It operates through three segments: Loans, Securities, and Real Estate. The Loans segment originates conduit first mortgage loans that are secured by cash-flowing commercial real estate; and originates and invests in balance sheet first mortgage loans secured by commercial real estate properties that are undergoing transition, including lease-up, sell-out, and renovation or repositioning.