Short Interest in Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Expands By 25.8%

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,220,000 shares, an increase of 25.8% from the October 15th total of 2,560,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on TWO shares. JMP Securities dropped their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.75 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Two Harbors Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.32.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of TWO stock opened at $11.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.41 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Two Harbors Investment has a 1 year low of $11.28 and a 1 year high of $14.59.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.22). Two Harbors Investment had a negative net margin of 87.84% and a positive return on equity of 4.45%. The company had revenue of $112.64 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Two Harbors Investment’s payout ratio is presently -37.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Two Harbors Investment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 52,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 16,743 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 1,680.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 4.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 2,241 shares during the period. 64.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Two Harbors Investment

Two Harbors Investment Corp. invests in, finances, and manages mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), and other financial assets through RoundPoint in the United States. The company target assets include agency RMBS collateralized by fixed rate mortgage loans, adjustable rate mortgage loans, hybrid mortgage loans, or derivatives; and other assets, such as financial and mortgage-related assets, including non-agency securities and non-hedging transactions.