Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.90.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TWO. StockNews.com cut Two Harbors Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $13.50 to $14.50 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Friday, August 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock.

Two Harbors Investment Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TWO opened at $13.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.86. Two Harbors Investment has a twelve month low of $9.83 and a twelve month high of $14.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

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

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.12%. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Institutional Trading of Two Harbors Investment

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TWO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 1,680.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $144,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Two Harbors Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

Two Harbors Investment Company Profile

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.