Brokerages Set Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) PT at $7.75

Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.75.

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

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 4,788 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:RWT opened at $6.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $810.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.63. Redwood Trust has a 1 year low of $5.46 and a 1 year high of $8.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.92. 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 (NYSE:RWT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $27.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.00 million. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.77%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 218.18%.

Redwood Trust Company Profile

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.