Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Receives $7.67 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.50.

RWT has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Jones Trading cut their price objective on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th.

Redwood Trust Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE RWT opened at $5.47 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $727.42 million, a PE ratio of 16.58 and a beta of 1.15. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $4.68 and a one year high of $8.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.62.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The business had revenue of $27.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.00 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 86.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,788 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 74.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.