JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Price Target to $6.50

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $7.00 to $6.50 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JMP Securities increased their price objective on 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 raised Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.84.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Redwood Trust stock opened at $6.31 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.17. Redwood Trust has a 12 month low of $5.45 and a 12 month high of $8.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.04. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.01%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.57 earnings per share 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. This is a positive change from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is presently 130.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Redwood Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RWT. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,611,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,945,000 after acquiring an additional 941,223 shares in the last quarter. NFC Investments LLC raised its holdings in Redwood Trust by 127.7% during the third quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 484,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,749,000 after purchasing an additional 271,975 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 worth $8,608,000 after purchasing an additional 207,088 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Redwood Trust in the third quarter valued at $1,217,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,116,000 after buying an additional 102,274 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Company 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.