Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 28,589 Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 623,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 28,589 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of Redwood Trust worth $4,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of RWT. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,611,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,945,000 after buying an additional 941,223 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,116,000 after purchasing an additional 102,274 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,038,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,492,000 after purchasing an additional 25,444 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,113,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,608,000 after buying an additional 207,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFC Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 127.7% in the third quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 484,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,749,000 after acquiring an additional 271,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE RWT opened at $6.49 on Friday. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.45 and a 1 year high of $8.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.03 and a 200 day moving average of $7.17. The stock has a market cap of $858.41 million, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.57.

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 $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.09%. This is an increase from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is 130.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on RWT shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com raised Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down from $8.00) on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Redwood Trust from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.03.

Redwood Trust Profile

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.