Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.84.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on RWT shares. StockNews.com lowered Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Redwood Trust by 86.7% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 4,788 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the third quarter worth about $91,000. Institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

Redwood Trust stock opened at $6.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a current ratio of 44.36. The firm has a market cap of $875.29 million, a P/E ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $6.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.06. Redwood Trust has a 52 week low of $5.45 and a 52 week high of $8.15.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $27.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.00 million. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 9.35%. Equities research analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.90%. This is a boost from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 218.18%.

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.