Analysts Set Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Target Price at $7.44

Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.44.

RWT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities dropped their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jones Trading restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Redwood Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RWT. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 165.5% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 8,589 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Carrera Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

Shares of RWT stock opened at $5.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36. The company has a market capitalization of $774.75 million, a P/E ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.21. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $4.68 and a one year high of $8.15.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $73.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.55 million. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 9.35%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.37%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 327.27%.

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.