KBW Expands Coverage to Equity REITs

KBW Inc., a New York-based investment bank that specializes in financial services, has announced an expansion into the equity REIT sector.KBW said it has already initiated coverage on 31 publicly traded real estate investment trusts and expects the number to increase to about 50 by the end of the year. KBW also announced that it has hired nine employees to staff the new REIT effort, including Sheila McGrath and Steve Swett as senior vice presidents of research and Andrew Crossfield as senior vice president of equity sales. According to KBW research, financial services companies now account for roughly 21% of the S&P 500 Index's total market capitalization, and 6% of those companies are categorized as REITs. The company can be found online at http://www.kbw.com.