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

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.03.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on RWT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Redwood Trust from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down from $8.00) on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE RWT opened at $6.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $904.71 million, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.57. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $5.45 and a one year high of $8.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a current ratio of 44.36.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.53%. This is an increase from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 123.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RWT. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Redwood Trust by 6.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,611,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,945,000 after buying an additional 941,223 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,116,000 after purchasing an additional 102,274 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,038,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,492,000 after purchasing an additional 25,444 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Redwood Trust by 22.8% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,113,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,608,000 after purchasing an additional 207,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Redwood Trust by 21.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 976,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,336,000 after purchasing an additional 174,317 shares during the last quarter. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Redwood Trust

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.