Raymond James Raises Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Price Target to $9.50

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $8.50 to $9.50 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on RWT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $8.08.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

Shares of RWT opened at $7.93 on Thursday. Redwood Trust has a fifty-two week low of $5.45 and a fifty-two week high of $8.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 113.29 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.97, a quick ratio of 50.47 and a current ratio of 50.47.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 4.93% and a net margin of 4.45%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Redwood Trust will post 0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 971.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $86,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust in the second quarter worth about $234,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 290,767 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,887,000 after buying an additional 21,232 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 59.9% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 27,764 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company’s stock.

About Redwood Trust

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.