Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $7.50 to $8.50. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Redwood Trust traded as high as $8.15 and last traded at $8.04, with a volume of 35803 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.99.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.08.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Redwood Trust by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,504,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,763,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530,937 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 164.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,314,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $83,842,000 after acquiring an additional 7,035,524 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,846,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,760,000 after acquiring an additional 37,514 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,798,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,325,000 after acquiring an additional 127,435 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 1,148,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,316,000 after acquiring an additional 134,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 50.47, a quick ratio of 50.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.64. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 113.29 and a beta of 1.58.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 4.93% and a net margin of 4.45%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is 914.29%.

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.