Northern Trust Corp Buys 108,519 Shares of Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,833,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,519 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.09% of Ready Capital worth $12,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ready Capital by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,366,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $77,522,000 after purchasing an additional 768,891 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Ready Capital by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,116,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,251,000 after purchasing an additional 197,770 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ready Capital by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,266,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,458,000 after purchasing an additional 398,005 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ready Capital by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,540,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,508,000 after purchasing an additional 174,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Ready Capital by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,166,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,954,000 after purchasing an additional 76,788 shares in the last quarter. 55.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Ready Capital from $4.00 to $3.75 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citizens Jmp downgraded Ready Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ready Capital from $5.00 to $4.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 target price (down from $8.00) on shares of Ready Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.00.

Ready Capital Stock Performance

NYSE:RC opened at $4.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $779.59 million, a P/E ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ready Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $3.93 and a 1-year high of $9.54.

Ready Capital (NYSE:RC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $40.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.33 million. Ready Capital had a positive return on equity of 7.53% and a negative net margin of 11.65%. Research analysts anticipate that Ready Capital Co. will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ready Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.05%. Ready Capital’s payout ratio is currently -28.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Capasse acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.80 per share, with a total value of $48,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,640. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Ready Capital

Ready Capital Corporation operates as a real estate finance company in the United States. It operates through two segments: LMM Commercial Real Estate and Small Business Lending. The company originates, acquires, finances, and services lower-to-middle-market (LLM) commercial real estate loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, and mortgage-backed securities collateralized primarily by LLM loans, or other real estate-related investments.