Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Shares Purchased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,274 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 3.92% of Redwood Trust worth $40,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the second quarter valued at $242,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Redwood Trust by 7.1% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 93,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 6,192 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 66,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 906,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,883,000 after buying an additional 297,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 18,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 6,318 shares during the period. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Redwood Trust from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. 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 research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 target price (down from $8.00) on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.03.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RWT opened at $6.77 on Friday. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.45 and a 52-week high of $8.15. 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 firm has a market cap of $895.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.16.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a positive change from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is currently 130.91%.

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.