Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Receives “Buy” Rating from BTIG Research

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $8.50 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

RWT has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $5.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on Redwood Trust from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.88.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

RWT stock opened at $5.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 40.39, a quick ratio of 40.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.00. The company has a market capitalization of $743.66 million, a PE ratio of -8.99 and a beta of 1.37. Redwood Trust has a 12-month low of $4.68 and a 12-month high of $7.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.86.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 8.70% and a negative net margin of 6.93%.The company had revenue of ($38.10) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.5%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -112.50%.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RWT. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Redwood Trust by 270.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 331.8% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 6,082 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 165.5% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 8,589 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 5,354 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 136.9% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,823 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 6,255 shares during the period. 74.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.