Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.8214.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on RWT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.75 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JonesTrading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6.25 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Redwood Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th.

Redwood Trust Trading Up 0.1%

RWT opened at $5.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.34, a current ratio of 55.15 and a quick ratio of 55.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.67. Redwood Trust has a 1-year low of $5.00 and a 1-year high of $6.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $714.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.37 and a beta of 1.52.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 12.00% and a negative net margin of 5.93%.The business had revenue of $140.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.88 million. Analysts expect that Redwood Trust will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is presently -118.03%.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RWT. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 521.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,875,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,430,000 after buying an additional 3,251,302 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,020,483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,969,000 after buying an additional 1,395,675 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 52.8% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,674,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,257,000 after buying an additional 578,301 shares during the period. Tran Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,947,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,551,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after buying an additional 516,630 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc (NYSE:RWT) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the U.S. residential mortgage market. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, the company focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of residential mortgage assets, including whole loans, agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and structured credit products.

The company’s core activities encompass the acquisition, financing, and management of prime residential mortgage whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.