Redwood Trust, Inc. (RWT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on March 31st

Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 13th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 24th.

Redwood Trust has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years. Redwood Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 94.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Research analysts expect Redwood Trust to earn $0.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.0%.

Redwood Trust Price Performance

NYSE RWT opened at $6.30 on Friday. Redwood Trust has a 12 month low of $5.46 and a 12 month high of $8.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $834.21 million, a PE ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.96.

Redwood Trust (NYSE:RWT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.03). Redwood Trust had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 9.35%. The firm had revenue of $27.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Redwood Trust will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Redwood Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Redwood Trust in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Redwood Trust from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.75.

About Redwood Trust

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.