D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 3,116,988 Shares of Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT - Free Report) by 97.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,012 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,116,988 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Redwood Trust worth $607,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in Redwood Trust by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 61,583 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 8,588 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Redwood Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Redwood Trust by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,313 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 4,788 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in shares of Redwood Trust by 633.8% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 70,414 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 60,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Redwood Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $508,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RWT has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Redwood Trust from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on Redwood Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jones Trading restated a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Redwood Trust from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.75 to $7.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.44.

Redwood Trust Trading Down 0.8%

RWT stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.50. The stock had a trading volume of 136,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 941,184. The company has a quick ratio of 44.36, a current ratio of 44.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.09. Redwood Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $4.68 and a twelve month high of $8.15. The firm has a market cap of $731.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.31.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $73.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.55 million. Redwood Trust had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 6.91%. As a group, research analysts expect that Redwood Trust, Inc. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Redwood Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 24th. Redwood Trust's payout ratio is currently 327.27%.

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.