Van ECK Associates Corp Has $7.09 Million Stock Holdings in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,085,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 165,281 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Redwood Trust were worth $7,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 6.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,611,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,945,000 after buying an additional 941,223 shares in the last quarter. NFC Investments LLC raised its holdings in Redwood Trust by 127.7% in the 3rd quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 484,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,749,000 after acquiring an additional 271,975 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,113,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,608,000 after acquiring an additional 207,088 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $1,217,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,116,000 after purchasing an additional 102,274 shares during the period. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on RWT. StockNews.com downgraded Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.84.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

RWT opened at $6.37 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.55, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a current ratio of 44.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $843.49 million, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.57. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.45 and a 52-week high of $8.15.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.01%. The firm had revenue of $27.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.00 million. As a group, analysts predict that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.31%. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is 130.91%.

Redwood Trust 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.