North Ground Capital Buys Shares of 95,000 Redwood Trust, Inc. $RWT

North Ground Capital bought a new stake in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 95,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $550,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC grew its position in Redwood Trust by 270.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 331.8% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 6,082 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 136.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,823 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 6,255 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the third quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust during the second quarter worth about $74,000. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RWT stock opened at $5.97 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.73, a quick ratio of 57.77 and a current ratio of 57.77. The stock has a market cap of $755.65 million, a PE ratio of -7.36 and a beta of 1.58. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.68 and a 1 year high of $6.73.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $54.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.04 million. Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 9.19% and a negative net margin of 8.62%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 23rd were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -88.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $8.50 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Jones Trading decreased their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.75.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc (NYSE:RWT) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the U.S. residential mortgage market. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, the company focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of residential mortgage assets, including whole loans, agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and structured credit products.

The company’s core activities encompass the acquisition, financing, and management of prime residential mortgage whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.