Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 7,925 Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 361,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,925 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.27% of Redwood Trust worth $2,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 86.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,788 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the fourth quarter worth $80,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust during the 4th quarter worth $86,000. Finally, Callan Capital LLC acquired a new position in Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $163,000. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

RWT opened at $5.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $789.92 million, a PE ratio of 18.00 and a beta of 1.15. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.68 and a 1 year high of $8.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.59. The company has a current ratio of 44.36, a quick ratio of 44.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $27.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.00 million. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.12%. Redwood Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 218.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on RWT shares. JMP Securities decreased their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jones Trading decreased their target price on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.50.

About Redwood Trust

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.