Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) to Issue $0.45 Quarterly Dividend

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st.

Two Harbors Investment has increased its dividend by an average of 1,259.4% per year over the last three years. Two Harbors Investment has a payout ratio of 104.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Two Harbors Investment to earn $0.82 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 219.5%.

Two Harbors Investment Price Performance

TWO traded down $0.15 on Friday, reaching $13.94. The stock had a trading volume of 3,342,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,070,326. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.86. Two Harbors Investment has a fifty-two week low of $9.83 and a fifty-two week high of $14.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.73 and a 200-day moving average of $13.11.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.15. Two Harbors Investment had a return on equity of 3.64% and a net margin of 27.71%. The company had revenue of $115.95 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TWO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $13.50 to $14.50 in a research report on Friday, June 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Two Harbors Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Friday, August 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.90.

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.