Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.84.

A number of analysts have weighed in on RWT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RWT. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust during the second quarter valued at $86,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 91.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 33,976 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 65.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Evanson Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 16.7% during the third quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 14,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new position in Redwood Trust in the third quarter worth about $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RWT opened at $6.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 44.36, a current ratio of 44.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55. The stock has a market cap of $874.63 million, a P/E ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.13. Redwood Trust has a 52 week low of $5.45 and a 52 week high of $8.15.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.91%. This is a boost from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is presently 130.91%.

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.