D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Trims Position in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 97.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 93,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,116,988 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.07% of Redwood Trust worth $607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,569,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,248,000 after purchasing an additional 197,719 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Redwood Trust by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 641,410 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,188,000 after acquiring an additional 18,164 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,085,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,089,000 after acquiring an additional 165,281 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,707,027 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,561,000 after acquiring an additional 206,698 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Redwood Trust by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,003,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 89,335 shares during the period. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on RWT. UBS Group upped their price target on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities decreased their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jones Trading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.44.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 1.2%

Redwood Trust stock opened at $5.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $5.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.35. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.68 and a 1 year high of $8.15. The stock has a market cap of $723.50 million, a P/E ratio of 16.47 and a beta of 1.45.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.03). Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The company had revenue of $73.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.55 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.25%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 327.27%.

Redwood Trust Company 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.