Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday.

RWT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JonesTrading reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.25 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.75 to $7.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.96.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RWT opened at $5.30 on Friday. Redwood Trust has a 1 year low of $4.68 and a 1 year high of $6.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.34, a current ratio of 55.15 and a quick ratio of 55.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.68. The firm has a market cap of $661.82 million, a PE ratio of -8.68 and a beta of 1.55.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 12.00% and a negative net margin of 5.93%.The firm had revenue of $140.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.88 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -118.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Redwood Trust by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,101,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $83,509,000 after purchasing an additional 80,529 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 521.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,875,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,430,000 after purchasing an additional 3,251,302 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,176,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,773,000 after purchasing an additional 80,206 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,551,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,107,000 after purchasing an additional 516,630 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,169,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,000,000 after buying an additional 282,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc (NYSE:RWT) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the U.S. residential mortgage market. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, the company focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of residential mortgage assets, including whole loans, agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and structured credit products.

The company’s core activities encompass the acquisition, financing, and management of prime residential mortgage whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.