Ready Capital (NYSE:RC) Sets New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Ready Capital's share price hit a new 52-week low of $3.89 after B. Riley downgraded its price target from $6.00 to $4.00, maintaining a neutral rating.
• Institutional investors have increased their holdings, with Nomura Asset Management raising its position by 163.6%, reflecting growing interest in the stock despite recent downgrades.
• The company reported a loss of ($0.14) earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates by a significant margin and indicating operational challenges.

Ready Capital Corp (NYSE:RC - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after B. Riley lowered their price target on the stock from $6.00 to $4.00. B. Riley currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Ready Capital traded as low as $3.89 and last traded at $3.89, with a volume of 638588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.07.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ready Capital from $4.75 to $4.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Ready Capital from $3.75 to $4.25 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $6.04.

Institutional Trading of Ready Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ready Capital by 163.6% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ready Capital in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Ready Capital by 404.7% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,021 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 4,828 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ready Capital in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ready Capital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 55.87% of the company's stock.

Ready Capital Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $667.55 million, a P/E ratio of -2.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.94.

Ready Capital (NYSE:RC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.13). Ready Capital had a positive return on equity of 3.76% and a negative net margin of 40.59%. The company had revenue of ($9.77) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.26 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ready Capital Corp will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ready Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.8%. Ready Capital's payout ratio is presently -27.03%.

About Ready Capital

Ready Capital Corporation operates as a real estate finance company in the United States. It operates through two segments: LMM Commercial Real Estate and Small Business Lending. The company originates, acquires, finances, and services lower-to-middle-market (LLM) commercial real estate loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, and mortgage-backed securities collateralized primarily by LLM loans, or other real estate-related investments.

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