Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on RWT. Jones Trading dropped their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Redwood Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $6.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Redwood Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.75.

Redwood Trust Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:RWT opened at $5.93 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $5.58 and its 200 day moving average is $5.72. The stock has a market cap of $750.58 million, a P/E ratio of -7.31 and a beta of 1.58. Redwood Trust has a 52-week low of $4.68 and a 52-week high of $6.73. The company has a quick ratio of 57.77, a current ratio of 57.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.73.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. Redwood Trust had a positive return on equity of 9.19% and a negative net margin of 8.62%.The business had revenue of $54.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.04 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Redwood Trust by 10.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,020,483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,675 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Redwood Trust by 52.8% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,674,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,257,000 after buying an additional 578,301 shares during the last quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $2,947,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Redwood Trust by 29.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,034,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,779,000 after acquiring an additional 468,720 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Redwood Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Redwood Trust

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.