Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Ready Capital Co. (NYSE:RC) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,714 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Ready Capital worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avion Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Ready Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Ready Capital by 64.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 3,248 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ready Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $99,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ready Capital in the third quarter valued at about $116,000. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Ready Capital during the third quarter valued at about $151,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RC has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ready Capital from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Ready Capital in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reduced their price target on shares of Ready Capital from $10.50 to $9.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Ready Capital from $6.75 to $6.25 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Ready Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ready Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.61.

Ready Capital Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RC opened at $5.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $852.77 million, a PE ratio of -7.23 and a beta of 1.43. Ready Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $4.78 and a twelve month high of $9.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $6.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.27.

Ready Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.88%. Ready Capital’s payout ratio is -142.86%.

About Ready Capital

Ready Capital Corporation operates as a real estate finance company in the United States. It operates through two segments: LMM Commercial Real Estate and Small Business Lending. The company originates, acquires, finances, and services lower-to-middle-market (LLM) commercial real estate loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, residential mortgage loans, construction loans, and mortgage-backed securities collateralized primarily by LLM loans, or other real estate-related investments.