Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

RWT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.75 to $7.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JonesTrading reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $6.25 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Redwood Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.96.

Redwood Trust Stock Down 8.4%

RWT stock opened at $5.38 on Friday. Redwood Trust has a fifty-two week low of $4.68 and a fifty-two week high of $6.97. The company has a market cap of $671.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.81 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.34, a quick ratio of 55.15 and a current ratio of 55.15. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.72.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $140.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.88 million. Redwood Trust had a negative net margin of 5.93% and a positive return on equity of 12.00%. As a group, analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -118.03%.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 39,606 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Redwood Trust by 1.4% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 151,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 2,033 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Redwood Trust by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 34,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,464 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC lifted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 10.7% during the third quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 26,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 2,560 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 392,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 3,147 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc (NYSE:RWT) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the U.S. residential mortgage market. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, the company focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of residential mortgage assets, including whole loans, agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and structured credit products.

The company’s core activities encompass the acquisition, financing, and management of prime residential mortgage whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.