Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 18,164 Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 641,410 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,164 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Redwood Trust worth $4,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Redwood Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Redwood Trust by 269.9% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 28,655 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 7.2% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 5,259 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 182.1% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 48,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 31,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in Redwood Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.84.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Redwood Trust stock opened at $6.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $862.71 million, a P/E ratio of 19.73 and a beta of 1.57. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.45 and a 52-week high of $8.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a current ratio of 44.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.05.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $27.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.00 million. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.06%. This is an increase from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Redwood Trust 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.