Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Jones Trading lowered their price objective on Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Redwood Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.75.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

NYSE RWT opened at $5.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $736.64 million, a P/E ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 1.58. Redwood Trust has a fifty-two week low of $4.68 and a fifty-two week high of $6.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.73, a quick ratio of 57.77 and a current ratio of 57.77.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. The firm 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -88.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Choreo LLC raised its position in Redwood Trust by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 13,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 3,158 shares during the period. Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Tran Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $2,947,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 4,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $82,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.