Short Interest in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Declines By 15.4%

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,520,000 shares, a decline of 15.4% from the August 31st total of 5,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 874,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RWT. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the second quarter worth approximately $69,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the first quarter worth $72,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Redwood Trust during the second quarter worth $86,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 26.5% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 14,324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Redwood Trust in the second quarter valued at $113,000. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Redwood Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

Redwood Trust stock opened at $7.75 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $7.41 and a 200-day moving average of $6.70. Redwood Trust has a one year low of $5.45 and a one year high of $8.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.97, a current ratio of 50.47 and a quick ratio of 50.47. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.71 and a beta of 1.58.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 4.45% and a return on equity of 4.93%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This is a boost from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.77%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 971.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RWT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Redwood Trust currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.08.

Redwood Trust Company Profile

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.