Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.96.

Several research firms have commented on TWO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Two Harbors Investment from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Compass Point dropped their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $15.75 to $14.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Two Harbors Investment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Two Harbors Investment Price Performance

NYSE:TWO opened at $13.77 on Monday. Two Harbors Investment has a 12 month low of $10.84 and a 12 month high of $14.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 1.84.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.07). Two Harbors Investment had a return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 66.24%. On average, analysts expect that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Two Harbors Investment news, insider Rebecca B. Sandberg sold 2,561 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.96, for a total transaction of $33,190.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 146,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,566.88. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CIO Nicholas Letica sold 5,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.28, for a total value of $64,713.36. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 168,935 shares in the company, valued at $1,905,586.80. This trade represents a 3.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,136 shares of company stock worth $377,154 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Two Harbors Investment

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 818.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,963 shares in the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment in the third quarter valued at $64,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 3,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Trading LLC raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 866.3% in the fourth quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 9,443 shares in the last quarter. 64.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.