Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.96.

TWO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Two Harbors Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Compass Point cut their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $15.75 to $14.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Performance

Shares of TWO stock opened at $13.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.09. Two Harbors Investment has a one year low of $10.84 and a one year high of $14.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 1.84.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.07). Two Harbors Investment had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 66.24%. Equities analysts anticipate that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.31%. Two Harbors Investment’s payout ratio is currently 85.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Two Harbors Investment

In related news, CIO Nicholas Letica sold 3,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.21, for a total transaction of $44,346.76. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 180,712 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,781.52. This trade represents a 2.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Rebecca B. Sandberg sold 5,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.21, for a total transaction of $56,330.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 156,163 shares in the company, valued at $1,750,587.23. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,136 shares of company stock worth $377,154. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Talon Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $294,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Two Harbors Investment by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,181,547 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,978,000 after buying an additional 65,194 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $250,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in Two Harbors Investment by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 62,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 2,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

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.