Howard Financial Services LTD. Trims Stake in Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO)

Howard Financial Services LTD. cut its position in shares of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) by 59.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 21,861 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Two Harbors Investment were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 48.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 857,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,324,000 after buying an additional 278,666 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the fourth quarter worth $520,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 6.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 89,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,284 shares during the period. TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the 2nd quarter worth about $577,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 155.4% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,317,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,516,000 after buying an additional 801,837 shares in the last quarter. 64.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Two Harbors Investment Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE TWO opened at $12.93 on Wednesday. Two Harbors Investment Corp. has a 1-year low of $9.83 and a 1-year high of $14.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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. Two Harbors Investment had a net margin of 27.71% and a return on equity of 3.64%. The business had revenue of $115.95 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Two Harbors Investment Corp. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TWO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Compass Point assumed coverage on Two Harbors Investment in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.75 target price for the company. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Friday, August 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.04.

About Two Harbors Investment

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.