Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research note on Friday, August 16th. They set a buy rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $13.50 to $14.50 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.90.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE TWO opened at $14.02 on Thursday. Two Harbors Investment has a 52-week low of $9.83 and a 52-week high of $14.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $13.64 and a 200-day moving average of $13.08.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.15. Two Harbors Investment had a return on equity of 3.64% and a net margin of 27.71%. The company had revenue of $115.95 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Two Harbors Investment

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Two Harbors Investment during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,829,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 48.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 857,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,324,000 after buying an additional 278,666 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Two Harbors Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $197,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter worth about $1,931,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Two Harbors Investment in the 4th quarter valued at about $520,000. Institutional investors own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

About Two Harbors Investment

Two Harbors Investment Corp. invests in, finances, and manages mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), and other financial assets through RoundPoint in the United States. The company target assets include agency RMBS collateralized by fixed rate mortgage loans, adjustable rate mortgage loans, hybrid mortgage loans, or derivatives; and other assets, such as financial and mortgage-related assets, including non-agency securities and non-hedging transactions.