Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on TWO. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on Two Harbors Investments from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Two Harbors Investments in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Two Harbors Investments from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Two Harbors Investments from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Two Harbors Investments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.36.

Two Harbors Investments Price Performance

TWO stock opened at $9.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of -3.89 and a beta of 1.28. Two Harbors Investments has a 1 year low of $9.30 and a 1 year high of $14.28.

Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36. The business had revenue of ($23.50) million during the quarter. Two Harbors Investments had a positive return on equity of 11.92% and a negative net margin of 44.10%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Two Harbors Investments will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investments Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 3rd. Two Harbors Investments’s dividend payout ratio is -54.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Two Harbors Investments news, CIO Nicholas Letica sold 8,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.02, for a total transaction of $86,713.08. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 160,281 shares in the company, valued at $1,606,015.62. This represents a 5.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWO. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 68.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Two Harbors Investments in the third quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in Two Harbors Investments by 240.4% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,370 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 2,380 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Two Harbors Investments by 29.2% in the first quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 5,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Two Harbors Investments by 233.0% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 6,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 4,552 shares in the last quarter. 64.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Two Harbors Investments

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.