Prudent Man Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,716 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Redwood Trust were worth $146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,611,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,945,000 after acquiring an additional 941,223 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,189,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,116,000 after acquiring an additional 102,274 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 72,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 3,206 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,038,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,492,000 after acquiring an additional 25,444 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Redwood Trust by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,085,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,089,000 after acquiring an additional 165,281 shares during the period. 74.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Redwood Trust Stock Up 1.8 %

Redwood Trust stock opened at $6.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09, a current ratio of 44.36 and a quick ratio of 44.36. The company has a market cap of $886.56 million, a PE ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 1.57. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.45 and a 1-year high of $8.15.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $27.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.00 million. Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 9.35%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.76%. This is an increase from Redwood Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Redwood Trust’s payout ratio is presently 218.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on RWT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Redwood Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.84.

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.