Two Harbors Investment Corp. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:TWO)

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd.

Two Harbors Investment has raised its dividend by an average of 1,259.4% annually over the last three years. Two Harbors Investment has a payout ratio of 100.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect Two Harbors Investment to earn $0.85 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 211.8%.

Two Harbors Investment Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TWO traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $11.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,314,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,102,886. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.96. Two Harbors Investment has a 12 month low of $11.28 and a 12 month high of $14.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.39 and a beta of 1.85.

Two Harbors Investment (NYSE:TWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.22). Two Harbors Investment had a positive return on equity of 4.45% and a negative net margin of 87.84%. The firm had revenue of $112.64 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TWO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of 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. Compass Point dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price target on shares of Two Harbors Investment from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.71.

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.