Churchill Downs Inc. (CHDN) and Two Popular REITs Register High Dollar Volume of Insider Selling

Let’s now examine the insider selling activity observed at Medical Properties Trust Inc. (NYSE:MPW). Edward K. Aldag, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Medical Properties Trust, discarded 120,805 shares on Wednesday and 124,822 shares on Thursday at a weighted average price of $12.88. After the recent sales, Mr. Aldag continues to hold a direct ownership stake of 1.98 million shares.

Medical Properties Trust activates as a self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on owning net-leased healthcare facilities in the United States and other foreign countries. The REIT’s portfolio comprises 110 general acute care hospitals, 23 long-term acute care hospital, 69 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, as well as three medical office buildings. It should be noted that the REIT has investments in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain through two joint ventures formed in 2015. Fresh data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) displays that national health expenditures are expected to grow 5.3% in 2016, and the average compound annual growth rate for national health expenditures will reach 5.8% over the period of 2016 through 2024. Medical Properties Trust generated total revenue of $441.88 million in 2015, which increased from $312.53 million in 2014 and $242.52 million in 2013. The REIT’s 2015 normalized funds from operations were $274.81 million, as compared to $181.74 million in 2014 and $147.24 million in 2013. It should be noted that the company invested or committed to invest roughly $1.8 million in healthcare real estate assets last year, so Medical Properties Trust is indeed seeking to capitalize on the aforementioned trends in the healthcare industry. The REIT currently pays out an annualized cash dividend of $0.88 per share, which equates to a dividend yield of 6.84%. The shares of the healthcare-focused REIT are nearly 12% in the green year-to-date. A total of nine money managers from our system had long positions in the REIT at the end of December 2015. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Medical Properties Trust Inc. (NYSE:MPW) by 35% in the fourth quarter of 2015, ending the year with 400,509 shares.