Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) Cut to Hold at Compass Point

Compass Point cut shares of Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Maxim Group downgraded Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Two Harbors Investments in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investments from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Two Harbors Investments from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Two Harbors Investments Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of TWO stock opened at $11.21 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.54. Two Harbors Investments has a 52 week low of $8.78 and a 52 week high of $14.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.29 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Two Harbors Investments (NYSE:TWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of ($15.44) million. Two Harbors Investments had a negative net margin of 109.90% and a positive return on equity of 12.00%. Analysts predict that Two Harbors Investments will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Two Harbors Investments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. Two Harbors Investments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -27.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments by 45.3% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,535,534 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,062 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Two Harbors Investments by 490.7% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,583,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,599,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,196 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Two Harbors Investments by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,649,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,540,000 after purchasing an additional 815,931 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Two Harbors Investments by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,485,048 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,098,000 after purchasing an additional 21,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Two Harbors Investments in the 4th quarter worth $23,886,000. 64.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Two Harbors Investments News

Here are the key news stories impacting Two Harbors Investments this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Definitive merger agreement — Two Harbors agreed to be acquired and taken private by CrossCountry (transaction provides a certain liquidity event for shareholders). TWO and CrossCountry Mortgage Announce Definitive Merger Agreement
• Neutral Sentiment: Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on TWO — a steady analyst stance that neither upgrades the stock nor signals support for a higher deal premium. Compass Point Reaffirms Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Market and analyst commentary highlights mixed mortgage-REIT fundamentals and valuation questions — useful context for whether the deal price is attractive versus expected future returns. Is TWO Price Reflecting Its Mixed Returns?
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high options activity and elevated share volume indicate speculative and event-driven trading around the deal — increases short-term volatility risk. Unusually High Options Trading
• Negative Sentiment: Deal price and prior competing bid dynamics — CrossCountry’s $10.80 per-share proposal is higher than a previous suitor’s offer but sits below recent intraday trades, prompting a pre-market selloff as shareholders mark down to the announced take-private price. Termination of Prior UWM Deal; CrossCountry $10.80 Offer
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: reports note the stock “tumbled” pre-market after the sellout price was disclosed — downside pressure reflects the discount to where some holders had been valuing TWO. Two Stock Tumbles Pre-Market

Two Harbors Investments Company Profile

Two Harbors Investments Corp. is a mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) that primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued or guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, as well as non-agency residential mortgage loans, mortgage servicing rights and credit risk transfer securities. The company seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders by employing leverage to enhance net interest income derived from its portfolio of high-quality fixed-income assets.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Two Harbors operates through a self-managed platform that combines portfolio management, risk-management and securitization expertise.