Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Reduces Stock Position in Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV cut its stake in Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC) by 88.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 151,443 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Ready Capital were worth $134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RC. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Ready Capital by 205.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 484,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,699,000 after buying an additional 326,467 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ready Capital by 50.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 336,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,570,000 after buying an additional 112,934 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ready Capital by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 109,993 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $742,000 after purchasing an additional 4,891 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ready Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Finally, Avion Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Ready Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 55.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Adam Zausmer acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $5.42 per share, with a total value of $54,200.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 301,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,989.10. This represents a 3.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RC has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Ready Capital from $4.00 to $3.75 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Ready Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ready Capital from $5.00 to $4.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $6.00 price target (down from $8.00) on shares of Ready Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.00.

Ready Capital Stock Up 2.6%

RC stock opened at $4.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $771.54 million, a P/E ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Ready Capital Co. has a one year low of $3.93 and a one year high of $9.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.09.

Ready Capital (NYSE:RC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $40.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.33 million. Ready Capital had a positive return on equity of 7.53% and a negative net margin of 11.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ready Capital Co. will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Ready Capital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.05%. Ready Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently -28.74%.

About Ready Capital

Ready Capital Corporation operates as a real estate finance company in the United States. It operates through two segments: LMM Commercial Real Estate and Small Business Lending. The company originates, acquires, finances, and services lower-to-middle-market (LLM) commercial real estate loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, and mortgage-backed securities collateralized primarily by LLM loans, or other real estate-related investments.