Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.75.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on RWT shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.50 price objective on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jones Trading cut their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RWT stock opened at $5.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $5.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.72. The company has a quick ratio of 57.77, a current ratio of 57.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $721.82 million, a PE ratio of -7.03 and a beta of 1.58. Redwood Trust has a 52-week low of $4.68 and a 52-week high of $6.73.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $31.04 million. Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 9.19% and a negative net margin of 8.62%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 23rd were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.6%. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is -88.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,020,483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,675 shares during the period. Tran Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $2,947,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Redwood Trust by 29.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,034,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,779,000 after buying an additional 468,720 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust in the first quarter valued at about $2,018,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust in the third quarter valued at about $1,300,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Company Profile

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.