Raymond James analyst Jonathan Hughes reiterated a Strong Buy rating on Omega Healthcare and raised his price target to $44 following Monday's forward equity raise that will be used to finance the cash portion of the previously announced $735M portfolio acquisition. Hughes tells investors in a research note that Omega's management "wisely took advantage" of its favorable cost of capital for external growth and has effectively removed financing risk related to the transaction. His constructive view on Omega is strengthened and he continues to feel that management's capital allocation acumen is underappreciated as shares have underperformed the healthcare REIT index by -400 basis points year-to-date.