Medical Properties Trust (MPW) News Today, November 22, 2025: Insider Selling, Dividend Hike and $150 Million Buyback in Focus

Birmingham, Alabama – November 22, 2025 – Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: MPW), the embattled hospital-focused REIT, heads into the weekend with a flurry of fresh developments that investors are parsing closely: a notable insider share sale, a major institutional holder halving its position, a surprise dividend increase, and a new $150 million share repurchase program layered on top of still‑weak GAAP earnings.

MPW shares last closed on Friday, November 21, 2025 at $5.30, up about 5.4% on the day, with after-hours trading roughly flat. ^[1] At that level, the REIT carries a market capitalization of roughly $3.0 billion, trades with a 52‑week range of $3.51–$6.34, and now offers a dividend yield of about 7.2% following this week’s payout hike. ^[2]

MPW at a glance

Medical Properties Trust is a global healthcare REIT that owns and finances hospital real estate through long-term net leases. The company’s latest quarterly filing shows: ^[3]

Total assets: about $14.9 billion
Debt (net): about $9.6 billion
Portfolio:388 properties and roughly 39,000 licensed beds across the U.S., U.K., Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Finland, Colombia, Italy and Portugal
Business model centered on sale‑leasebacks and mortgage/financing structures that let hospital operators “unlock” real-estate value

The company has also been at the center of controversy. Investigative reporting and regulatory scrutiny have highlighted how heavy sale‑leaseback rent and leverage may have exacerbated financial stress at tenants like Steward Health Care and Prospect Medical Holdings, which later entered bankruptcy. ^[4]

Today’s key MPW headlines (November 22, 2025)

Within roughly the last 24 hours, several new data points hit the tape:

Director Michael Stewart sells 59,000 shares at about $5.02 per share, a sale worth roughly $296,000, and trims his stake to 157,100 shares. ^[5]
SG Americas Securities LLC cuts its MPW position by 50.8% in Q2, selling 405,959 shares and ending the quarter with 393,286 shares valued around $1.7 million, about 0.07% of the company. ^[6]
Institutional ownership remains high at ~71.8%, with firms like AQR Capital Management, Charles Schwab Investment Management, UBS Asset Management and Nuveen either adding or initiating positions earlier this year. ^[7]
In the background, MPW has just raised its dividend by roughly 12–12.5% to $0.09 per quarter and is preparing to use a new $150 million stock buyback authorization unveiled with its third-quarter results. ^[8]

The mix of insider selling, institutional repositioning and more shareholder‑friendly capital allocation is what makes today’s MPW tape particularly interesting.

Insider selling: Director Michael Stewart trims his stake

A cluster of articles from GuruFocus, TradingView/Refinitiv, StockTitan and TipRanks all point to the same SEC Form 4: Director Michael G. Stewart sold 59,000 MPW shares on November 19, 2025. ^[9]

Key details:

Shares sold: 59,000
Weighted average price: about $5.02
Proceeds: approximately $296,000
Remaining direct holdings:157,100 shares
Over the past year, Stewart has sold a total of 88,000 shares and has not purchased any, while overall insider activity at MPW shows one insider buy versus four insider sells over the same period. ^[10]

From a market‑signal perspective:

Stewart’s latest trade represents just over a quarter of his position, suggesting a meaningful but not total de‑risking.
GuruFocus notes that, on the day of the sale, MPW traded near its own proprietary “GF Value” estimate (about $5.10 vs. a $5.02 share price), implying the stock was roughly fairly valued by their model at the time. ^[11]

Insiders sell for many reasons—including diversification, tax planning or personal liquidity—so the move doesn’t automatically imply bearishness. But given MPW’s recent price rebound and capital‑return announcements, investors will inevitably weigh this sale against management’s public expressions of confidence.

Institutions rebalance: SG Americas exits half, others step in

A separate MarketBeat piece published today shows SG Americas Securities LLC slashing its MPW position by 50.8% in Q2. ^[12]

Highlights from that filing‑based report:

SG Americas sold 405,959 shares, ending the quarter with 393,286 shares worth about $1.7 million, or roughly 0.07% of the company.
At the same time:
- AQR Capital Management boosted its stake by ~295% to 2.74 million shares.
- Charles Schwab Investment Management increased holdings by 13.4% to 10.0 million shares.
- UBS Asset Management added 11.2%, to over 4.0 million shares.
- Virginia Retirement Systems and Nuveen initiated new positions. ^[13]
Overall, institutional investors now own about 71.79% of MPW’s stock. ^[14]

Net‑net, the picture is mixed rather than one‑sided: one prominent trading desk is aggressively reducing exposure, while several long‑only and quantitative managers have been adding on weakness earlier in the year.

Dividend surprise: MPW raises its payout by roughly 12%

On November 17, 2025, MPW’s board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.09 per common share, up from $0.08 previously—an increase of about 12–12.5%. ^[15]

Key terms of the new dividend:

Amount: $0.09 per share quarterly
Payable date:January 8, 2026
Record date:December 11, 2025
Annualized dividend: $0.36
Implied yield at ~$5.30 share price: ~7.2% ^[16]

This is notable because:

MPW cut its dividend roughly in half in 2023 after tenant stress (notably Steward and Prospect) hit cash flows and forced large write‑downs. ^[17]
Many analysts and investors expected the company to maintain or even further trim the payout while it worked through tenant bankruptcies and high leverage.

Recent commentary has framed the move as a clear vote of confidence by management:

Seeking Alpha authors called it a “huge dividend surprise” and argued that the increase suggests management believes normalized cash flows and capital recycling can support the higher payout, even though GAAP earnings remain negative. ^[18]
A Motley Fool piece described MPW as “finally healthy” enough to justify a dividend raise, while still acknowledging that the stock’s ultra‑high yield reflects lingering risk. ^[19]

From a sustainability standpoint, MPW’s normalized funds from operations (NFFO) for Q3 was $0.13 per share, so if that level is roughly maintained, a $0.09 dividend implies a payout of around two‑thirds of normalized cash earnings, leaving some buffer for debt reduction and reinvestment. ^[20]

$150 million share buyback: signal or stretch?

Alongside its Q3 results on October 30, 2025, MPW also authorized a “strategic” common‑stock repurchase program of up to $150 million. ^[21]

At the current roughly $3.0 billion market cap, a fully executed program would retire just under 5% of the share float—meaningful, but not transformational. ^[22]

Management’s framing:

CEO Edward K. Aldag Jr. emphasized that ramping cash rents from newly re‑tenanted hospitals and the sale of low‑yielding assets give the company “growing flexibility” to handle upcoming debt maturities.
With expected recoveries from tenant restructurings like Prospect Medical Holdings, he argued that repurchasing MPW shares is among the best uses of capital at current prices. ^[23]

Independent takes have been more cautious:

Simply Wall St described the buyback as a “vote of confidence” but stressed that MPW is still working through tenant bankruptcies and asset‑quality concerns, and that debt levels remain high, so investors should treat the program as supportive but not a cure‑all. ^[24]

How aggressively MPW actually uses this authorization—versus allocating cash to deleveraging—will be a key signal to watch in coming quarters.

Q3 2025 results: stabilization, but losses persist

MPW’s third‑quarter 2025 results, released on October 30, provide the fundamental backdrop for today’s headlines. ^[25]

Headline numbers (Q3 2025)

From the company’s own release and subsequent coverage:

Total revenue:$237.5 million, up about 5.2% year‑over‑year.
Net loss:$77.7 million, or –$0.13 per share, largely driven by roughly $82 million in impairment charges tied mainly to Prospect‑related transactions.
Normalized FFO:$77.2 million, or $0.13 per share, versus $0.16 a year ago.
Funds From Operations (FFO): $92.0 million, improved versus a deeply negative figure in the prior‑year quarter due to huge 2024 write‑downs.

Rent collections and tenants

On the operations side, MPW highlighted several positives: ^[26]

Cash rents from new operators are current through October, except for three facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, bringing collections to about 96% of scheduled rents.
Including some late September rent received in early October, Q3 cash collections rose to $16 million from $11 million in Q2, with Q4 collections expected to approximate $22 million (excluding that timing quirk).
General acute care tenants such as LifePoint, ScionHealth, Ernest Health, Vibra, MEDIAN and Priory have shown meaningful year‑over‑year EBITDARM improvement, and international assets continue to produce rent coverage above 2x.

Balance sheet and tenant restructuring

The press release also underscores how dependent MPW’s recovery is on resolving problem tenants: ^[27]

MPW has a settlement with Prospect Medical Holdings and Yale New Haven Health that’s expected to fully cover its roughly $100 million DIP loan through $45 million in cash from Yale, proceeds from the sale of three Connecticut hospitals and other consideration.
It has agreed in principle to a new lease with NOR Healthcare Systems for Prospect’s California operations, which is expected to generate about $45 million in stabilized annual cash rent, pending regulatory approvals.
The REIT sold two Arizona facilities for roughly $50 million to recycle capital and reduce exposure to lower‑yield assets.

Even after these moves, MPW’s net debt of about $9.6 billion against $14.9 billion of assets, and its history of large impairment charges, mean that financial leverage remains a central risk factor. ^[28]

Stock performance, valuation and Wall Street sentiment

The combination of turnaround efforts, capital returns and lingering risk shows up clearly in how the market and analysts are treating MPW.

Price action & basic metrics

According to MarketBeat’s latest data: ^[29]

Last close: $5.30 (Nov 21, 2025), +5.37% on the day
50‑day moving average: ~$5.10
200‑day moving average: ~$4.67
Market cap: ~$3.02 billion
P/E (GAAP):–2.10 (reflecting net losses, not FFO)
Debt-to-equity ratio: about 2.0x
Quick/current ratio:2.76, suggesting decent liquidity on paper

Despite the recent bounce, MPW remains more than 70% below its late‑2021 all‑time high of around $23.63 per share, as reported in public filings and reference data. ^[30]

GuruFocus’ intrinsic value model currently pegs the shares as “fairly valued”, with the stock trading at roughly 0.98x their estimated GF Value around the time of Stewart’s sale. ^[31]

Analyst ratings

MarketBeat’s compilation of brokerage research shows: ^[32]

Coverage split:
- 1 Buy rating
- 4 Hold ratings
- 2 Sell ratings
Consensus rating:“Reduce”
Average 12‑month price target: about $5.40, only slightly above the current share price

Recent moves include:

Zacks Research upgraded MPW from “Strong Sell” to “Hold” in August.
Wall Street Zen recently moved its view from “Sell” to “Hold”.
Weiss Ratings still carries a “Sell (D‑)” rating, and Wells Fargo has an “Underweight” stance with a price target below $5. ^[33]

In short, Wall Street sees progress but not a full turnaround: upside appears capped in the near term unless the company can show more debt reduction, clean tenant recoveries and consistent, impairment‑free earnings.

What today’s developments mean for MPW investors

Putting today’s insider and institutional moves into context with the recent dividend hike, buyback and Q3 results, a few key themes emerge:

Management is signaling confidence, but via capital allocation rather than earnings. Raising the dividend and authorizing a $150 million buyback while still reporting GAAP losses is an assertive message that they believe cash flows, disposals and restructuring proceeds will support both shareholders and creditors. ^[34]
Balance sheet risk hasn’t gone away. Net loss, heavy impairment charges and leverage north of 2x debt‑to‑equity mean MPW remains a turnaround story, not a fully repaired REIT. A lot still depends on successful execution of tenant restructurings and asset sales. ^[35]
Insider and institutional behavior is mixed, not monolithic. Stewart’s sale and SG Americas’ halving of their stake show some players are taking chips off the table, while other large institutions have been adding on weakness. ^[36]
The stock remains a high‑yield, high‑risk name. A ~7%+ dividend yield and potential buyback support are attractive, but they are being offered in exchange for exposure to a leveraged, still‑restructuring hospital landlord with a history of volatile earnings and tenant distress. ^[37]

What to watch next

For investors tracking MPW over the coming months, the most important catalysts are likely to be:

Actual buyback activity: Does MPW meaningfully repurchase stock, or merely keep the authorization in reserve?
Prospect and other tenant outcomes: Timing and size of recoveries from DIP loans and asset sales, and whether the NOR lease in California is approved and ramps as expected. ^[38]
Debt refinancing and asset recycling: Progress in reducing net debt from the current ~$9.6 billion level without diluting shareholders. ^[39]
Dividend coverage: Whether normalized FFO can consistently cover the higher $0.09 dividend while leaving room for deleveraging. ^[40]

As always, this article is for informational and news purposes only and does not constitute personalized investment advice. MPW remains a speculative, turnaround‑style REIT, and anyone considering the stock should carefully evaluate their risk tolerance, time horizon and overall portfolio before making decisions.