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

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

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

Two Harbors Investment Price Performance

NYSE:TWO opened at $14.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.86. Two Harbors Investment has a one year low of $9.83 and a one year high of $14.59.

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

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TWO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 10.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,706,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $154,997,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,012 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Two Harbors Investment by 155.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,317,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,516,000 after acquiring an additional 801,837 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,413,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,829,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 48.2% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

Two Harbors Investment Company Profile

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.