Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $11.15 and last traded at $11.19, with a volume of 97019 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TWO. StockNews.com raised Two Harbors Investment to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Two Harbors Investment from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Compass Point decreased their price target on Two Harbors Investment from $15.75 to $14.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Two Harbors Investment presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.71.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.30 and a beta of 1.83.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $112.64 million during the quarter. Two Harbors Investment had a positive return on equity of 4.45% and a negative net margin of 87.84%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.01) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Two Harbors Investment Corp. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investment Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 16.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio is -37.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TWO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Two Harbors Investment by 1,680.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,000. Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Two Harbors Investment during the 3rd quarter worth $134,000. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Two Harbors Investment in the 2nd quarter valued at $147,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investment by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the period. 64.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.