Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

TWO has been the subject of several other research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Friday, August 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.75 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.96.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Performance

TWO opened at $11.97 on Tuesday. Two Harbors Investment has a 1-year low of $9.89 and a 1-year high of $14.59. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 1.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $13.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $115.95 million during 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 prior year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. Research analysts predict that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.04%. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 439.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Two Harbors Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,706,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $154,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,012 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Two Harbors Investment by 155.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,317,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,516,000 after purchasing an additional 801,837 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 48.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 857,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,324,000 after buying an additional 278,666 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 1,392.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 193,478 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,685,000 after buying an additional 180,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifePro Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,036,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

About Two Harbors Investment

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.