JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Price Target to $6.50

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) had its price objective trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $7.00 to $6.50 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

RWT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.97.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RWT opened at $6.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.18. The company has a market cap of $851.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 1.57. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $5.45 and a one year high of $8.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.04. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. Research analysts predict that Redwood Trust will post 0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 130.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,849 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the second quarter worth about $113,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 7.9% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 290,767 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,887,000 after purchasing an additional 21,232 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 74.34% of the stock is owned by 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.