Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Two Harbors Investments Corp (NYSE:TWO)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $9.53, but opened at $10.53. Two Harbors Investments shares last traded at $10.6550, with a volume of 6,048,797 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on TWO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investments from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Two Harbors Investments in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $14.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Two Harbors Investments currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Two Harbors Investments Trading Up 11.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.04). Two Harbors Investments had a negative net margin of 109.90% and a positive return on equity of 12.00%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of ($15.44) million. Sell-side analysts expect that Two Harbors Investments Corp will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Rebecca B. Sandberg sold 27,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.43, for a total transaction of $312,839.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 156,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,791,286.74. This represents a 14.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Alecia Hanson sold 10,768 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.41, for a total transaction of $122,862.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 45,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,736.08. The trade was a 19.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,389 shares of company stock worth $1,483,046. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Two Harbors Investments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 490.7% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,583,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,977,196 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,886,000. Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments during the third quarter valued at approximately $17,558,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Two Harbors Investments in the fourth quarter valued at $16,523,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 45.3% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,535,534 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,062 shares in the last quarter. 64.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Two Harbors Investments

Two Harbors Investments Corp. is a mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) that primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued or guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, as well as non-agency residential mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights and credit risk transfer securities. The company seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders by employing leverage to enhance net interest income derived from its portfolio of high-quality fixed-income assets.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Two Harbors operates through a self-managed platform that combines portfolio management, risk-management and securitization expertise.