Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.75.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RWT shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Redwood Trust by 182.1% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 48,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 31,582 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Redwood Trust by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 28,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Redwood Trust by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 29,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Redwood Trust by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 291,563 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 79,094 shares in the last quarter. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

RWT stock opened at $6.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a current ratio of 44.36. Redwood Trust has a 52-week low of $5.46 and a 52-week high of $8.15. The company has a market capitalization of $834.21 million, a P/E ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $6.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.96.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.03). Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 9.35%. The company had revenue of $27.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.00 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 218.18%.

About Redwood Trust

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.