Traders Purchase Large Volume of Two Harbors Investments Call Options (NYSE:TWO)

Two Harbors Investments Corp (NYSE:TWO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 7,434 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,115% compared to the typical daily volume of 612 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Two Harbors Investments news, insider Alecia Hanson sold 10,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.41, for a total transaction of $122,862.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 45,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,736.08. This trade represents a 19.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CIO Nicholas Letica sold 55,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.42, for a total transaction of $633,672.96. Following the sale, the executive owned 166,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,509.94. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 129,389 shares of company stock valued at $1,483,046 over the last three months. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Two Harbors Investments by 695.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,421 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 456.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

Two Harbors Investments Price Performance

NYSE:TWO traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.78. 2,722,874 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,291,085. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Two Harbors Investments has a 1 year low of $8.78 and a 1 year high of $14.17. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of -2.00 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.49.

Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.04). Two Harbors Investments had a positive return on equity of 12.00% and a negative net margin of 109.90%.The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of ($15.44) million. Sell-side analysts expect that Two Harbors Investments will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Two Harbors Investments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 5th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 5th. Two Harbors Investments’s payout ratio is currently -27.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TWO has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Two Harbors Investments in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Two Harbors Investments from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Two Harbors Investments from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Maxim Group cut shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Two Harbors Investments presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $12.88.

Two Harbors Investments Company Profile

Two Harbors Investments Corp. is a mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) that primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued or guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, as well as non-agency residential mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights and credit risk transfer securities. The company seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders by employing leverage to enhance net interest income derived from its portfolio of high-quality fixed-income assets.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Two Harbors operates through a self-managed platform that combines portfolio management, risk-management and securitization expertise.