Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning.

TWO has been the topic of several other research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research note on Friday, August 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued a buy rating and a $15.75 price objective on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $15.04.

Two Harbors Investment Price Performance

TWO opened at $12.93 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.17. Two Harbors Investment has a 52-week low of $9.83 and a 52-week high of $14.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.85.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.15. Two Harbors Investment had a net margin of 27.71% and a return on equity of 3.64%. The firm had revenue of $115.95 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Two Harbors Investment Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Two Harbors Investment’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TWO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 10.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,706,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $154,997,000 after buying an additional 1,135,012 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 155.4% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,317,877 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,516,000 after buying an additional 801,837 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 48.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 857,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,324,000 after buying an additional 278,666 shares during the last quarter. LifePro Asset Management bought a new stake in Two Harbors Investment in the second quarter worth $2,036,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Two Harbors Investment by 879.9% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 129,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 116,039 shares during the last quarter. 64.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Two Harbors Investment Company Profile

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.