Wall Street Zen Upgrades Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) to “Hold”

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

RWT has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.75 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Redwood Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.89.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

NYSE RWT opened at $5.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 59.63, a quick ratio of 59.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $695.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.12 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.67. Redwood Trust has a 1 year low of $5.00 and a 1 year high of $6.97.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $140.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.88 million. Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 14.53% and a negative net margin of 7.23%. As a group, research analysts expect that Redwood Trust will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Redwood Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RWT. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 26.7% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 492,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,990,000 after buying an additional 103,893 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in Redwood Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Redwood Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $149,000. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 35.4% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 14,513 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Redwood Trust by 331.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 6,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

Redwood Trust Company Profile

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.