Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,520,000 shares, a drop of 15.4% from the August 31st total of 5,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 874,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Raymond James raised their target price on Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.08.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust in the second quarter valued at about $69,000. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Redwood Trust in the first quarter worth approximately $72,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Redwood Trust by 26.5% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 14,324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Redwood Trust in the second quarter worth approximately $113,000. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Redwood Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Redwood Trust stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $7.75. The stock had a trading volume of 679,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 788,656. The company has a quick ratio of 50.47, a current ratio of 50.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 110.71 and a beta of 1.58. Redwood Trust has a 1 year low of $5.45 and a 1 year high of $8.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.70.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 4.93% and a net margin of 4.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Redwood Trust will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.77%. This is a positive change from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 971.43%.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Residential Consumer Mortgage Banking, Residential Investor Mortgage Banking, and Investment Portfolio. The Residential Consumer Mortgage Banking segment operates a mortgage loan conduit that acquires residential loans from third-party originators for subsequent sale, securitization, or transfer to its investment portfolio.