Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Short Interest Up 27.1% in March

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,977,416 shares, a growth of 27.1% from the February 26th total of 5,489,368 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,588,782 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Redwood Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in Redwood Trust by 192.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 5,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 3,572 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 331.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 6,082 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 54.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Bank of Marin purchased a new stake in Redwood Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. 74.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on RWT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Redwood Trust from $5.75 to $7.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Redwood Trust in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Redwood Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $6.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, JonesTrading reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.25 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Redwood Trust presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.96.

Redwood Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:RWT opened at $5.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.34, a quick ratio of 55.15 and a current ratio of 55.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $701.82 million, a P/E ratio of -9.20 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.67. Redwood Trust has a fifty-two week low of $4.68 and a fifty-two week high of $6.97.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). Redwood Trust had a negative net margin of 5.93% and a positive return on equity of 12.00%. The firm had revenue of $140.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.88 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 24th. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is currently -118.03%.

About Redwood Trust

Redwood Trust, Inc (NYSE:RWT) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the U.S. residential mortgage market. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, the company focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of residential mortgage assets, including whole loans, agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, and structured credit products.

The company’s core activities encompass the acquisition, financing, and management of prime residential mortgage whole loans and mortgage-backed securities.