Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.90.

Several equities research analysts have commented on TWO shares. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Friday, August 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $13.50 to $14.50 in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Trading of Two Harbors Investment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWO. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment during the fourth quarter worth about $670,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 108.7% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 27,649 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 14,400 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Two Harbors Investment in the 4th quarter worth approximately $805,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Two Harbors Investment by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 40,453 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 58,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 10,842 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.19% of the company’s stock.

Two Harbors Investment Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Two Harbors Investment stock opened at $14.16 on Monday. 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 market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 1.86. Two Harbors Investment has a 52-week low of $9.83 and a 52-week high of $14.59. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.99.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $115.95 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.71%. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

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.