Short Interest in Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Expands By 17.5%

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,220,000 shares, an increase of 17.5% from the August 31st total of 2,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 952,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TWO has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $13.50 to $14.50 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Friday, August 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.90.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Up 1.3 %

TWO traded up $0.18 on Monday, reaching $13.89. 991,272 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,069,060. Two Harbors Investment has a 52-week low of $9.83 and a 52-week high of $14.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 1.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.16.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $115.95 million for the quarter. Two Harbors Investment had a return on equity of 3.64% and a net margin of 27.71%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Institutional Trading of Two Harbors Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TWO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 1,680.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 118,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 10,422 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 4.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at $147,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 7.6% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 227,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

Two Harbors Investment Company Profile

Two Harbors Investment Corp. invests in, finances, and manages mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), and other financial assets through RoundPoint in the United States. The company target assets include agency RMBS collateralized by fixed rate mortgage loans, adjustable rate mortgage loans, hybrid mortgage loans, or derivatives; and other assets, such as financial and mortgage-related assets, including non-agency securities and non-hedging transactions.