Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) to Issue $0.45 Quarterly Dividend

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE:TWO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 15.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd.

Two Harbors Investment has increased its dividend by an average of 1,259.4% per year over the last three years. Two Harbors Investment has a dividend 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 fall. Equities 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 Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TWO traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $11.50. 1,313,386 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,101,441. Two Harbors Investment has a fifty-two week low of $11.28 and a fifty-two week high of $14.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of -2.39 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.96.

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 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 business had revenue of $112.64 million for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Two Harbors Investment will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities cut their target price 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. Compass Point reduced their price objective on Two Harbors Investment from $15.75 to $14.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Two Harbors Investment from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Two Harbors Investment to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.71.

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.