PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) today reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $37.2 million, or $0.39 per common share on a diluted basis for the first quarter of 2024, on net investment income of $74.2 million. PMT previously announced a cash dividend for the first quarter of 2024 of $0.40 per common share of beneficial interest, which was declared on March 21, 2024, and will be paid on April 26, 2024, to common shareholders of record as of April 12, 2024.
“PMT’s results in the first quarter reflect solid overall performance driven by strong results in the credit sensitive strategies and correspondent production partially offset by net fair value declines in the interest rate sensitive strategies”Post this
First Quarter 2024 Highlights
Financial results:
- Net income attributable to common shareholders of $37.2 million; annualized return on average common equity of 10%1
- Strong contributions from credit sensitive strategies and correspondent production partially offset by fair value declines in the interest rate sensitive strategies, which drove a tax benefit
- Book value per common share decreased slightly to $16.11 at March 31, 2024, from $16.13 at December 31, 2023
1 Return on average common equity is calculated based on net income attributable to common shareholders as a percentage of monthly average common equity during the quarter
Other investment highlights:
- Investment activity driven by correspondent production volumes
- Conventional correspondent loan production volumes for PMT’s account totaled $1.8 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB), down 29 percent from the prior quarter and 73 percent from the first quarter of 2023 as a result of the sale of a large percentage of conventional loans to PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFSI)
- Resulted in the creation of $31 million in new mortgage servicing rights (MSRs)
- Conventional correspondent loan production volumes for PMT’s account totaled $1.8 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB), down 29 percent from the prior quarter and 73 percent from the first quarter of 2023 as a result of the sale of a large percentage of conventional loans to PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFSI)
- Purchased two bulk MSR portfolios totaling $2.3 billion in UPB for $29 million
- Issued $306 million of new, 3-year credit risk transfer (CRT) term notes, effectively refinancing recently matured term notes
Notable activity after quarter end
- In April, issued $247 million of new, 3-year CRT term notes, which refinanced $213 million of notes due to mature in 2025
“PMT’s results in the first quarter reflect solid overall performance driven by strong results in the credit sensitive strategies and correspondent production partially offset by net fair value declines in the interest rate sensitive strategies,” said Chairman and CEO David Spector. “We continue to leverage PMT’s synergistic relationship with its manager and services provider, PFSI, to actively manage PMT’s portfolio. We took advantage of meaningful credit spread tightening in recent periods, opportunistically selling more than $100 million of previously-purchased GSE CRT bonds and realizing significant gains on these investments, which we believe no longer meet our long-term return requirements. Additionally, credit spread tightening drove our ability to issue more than $550 million in CRT term notes at attractive terms, effectively refinancing similar notes.”
Mr. Spector continued, “PMT’s performance in recent periods highlights the strength of the fundamentals underlying its long-term mortgage assets and our expertise managing mortgage-related investments in a challenging environment. While many other mortgage REITs have been negatively impacted by increased levels of interest rate volatility, PMT’s book value per share has remained stable due to its diversified portfolio and disciplined approach to hedging. It is for these reasons that I remain confident in PMT’s ability to continue delivering strong returns to its shareholders over the long-term.”
The following table presents the contributions of PMT’s segments, consisting of Credit Sensitive Strategies, Interest Rate Sensitive Strategies, Correspondent Production, and Corporate:
| Quarter ended March 31, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Credit sensitive strategies | Interest rate sensitive strategies | Correspondent production | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net investment income: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loan servicing fees | $ | – | $ | 45,705 | $ | – | $ | – | $ | 45,705 | ||||||||||||||
| Net gains on loans acquired for sale | – | – | 14,518 | – | 14,518 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net gains on investments and financings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mortgage-backed securities | 4,445 | (22,545 | ) | – | – | (18,100 | ) | |||||||||||||||||
| Loans at fair value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Held by VIEs | 3,529 | 2,707 | – | – | 6,236 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Distressed | (38 | ) | – | – | – | (38 | ) | |||||||||||||||||
| CRT investments | 51,655 | – | – | – | 51,655 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 59,591 | (19,838 | ) | – | – | 39,753 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net interest expense: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 24,209 | 104,179 | 11,891 | 3,280 | 143,559 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | 23,010 | 134,825 | 12,261 | 1,431 | 171,527 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1,199 | (30,646 | ) | (370 | ) | 1,849 | (27,968 | ) | |||||||||||||||||
| Other | 134 | – | 2,063 | – | 2,197 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 60,924 | (4,779 | ) | 16,211 | 1,849 | 74,205 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Expenses: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loan fulfillment and servicing fees payable to PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. | 20 | 20,242 | 4,016 | – | 24,278 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Management fees payable to PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. | – | – | – | 7,188 | 7,188 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 78 | 2,224 | 528 | 7,528 | 10,358 | |||||||||||||||||||
| $ | 98 | $ | 22,466 | $ | 4,544 | $ | 14,716 | $ | 41,824 | |||||||||||||||
| Pretax income (loss) | $ | 60,826 | $ | (27,245 | ) | $ | 11,667 | $ | (12,867 | ) | $ | 32,381 | ||||||||||||
Credit Sensitive Strategies Segment
The Credit Sensitive Strategies segment primarily includes results from PMT’s organically-created GSE CRT investments, opportunistic investments in other GSE CRT, investments in non-agency subordinate bonds from private-label securitizations of PMT’s production and legacy investments. Pretax income for the segment was $60.8 million on net investment income of $60.9 million, compared to pretax income of $60.9 million on net investment income of $61.0 million in the prior quarter.
Net gains on investments in the segment were $59.6 million, compared to $58.9 million in the prior quarter. These net gains include $51.7 million of gains on PMT’s organically-created GSE CRT investments, $4.4 million in gains on other acquired subordinate CRT mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and $3.5 million of gains on investments from non-agency subordinate bonds from PMT’s production.
Net gains on PMT’s organically-created CRT investments for the quarter were $51.7 million, compared to $45.7 million in the prior quarter. These net gains include $36.3 million in valuation-related gains, which reflected the impact of credit spread tightening in the first quarter. The prior quarter included $29.0 million of such gains. Net gains on PMT’s organically-created CRT investments also included $15.5 million in realized gains and carry, compared to $18.0 million in the prior quarter. Realized losses during the quarter were $0.2 million.
Net interest income for the segment was $1.2 million, compared to $2.0 million in the prior quarter. Interest income totaled $24.2 million, down from $26.2 in the prior quarter. Interest expense totaled $23.0 million, down from $24.2 in the prior quarter.
Interest Rate Sensitive Strategies Segment
The Interest Rate Sensitive Strategies segment includes results from investments in MSRs, Agency MBS, non-Agency senior MBS and interest rate hedges. Pretax loss for the segment was $27.2 million on net investment losses of $4.8 million, compared to pretax loss of $16.8 million on net investment income of $5.5 million in the prior quarter. The segment includes investments that typically have offsetting fair value exposures to changes in interest rates. For example, in a period with increasing interest rates, MSRs are expected to increase in fair value, whereas Agency pass-through and non-Agency senior MBS are expected to decrease in fair value.
The results in the Interest Rate Sensitive Strategies segment consist of net gains and losses on investments, net interest income and net loan servicing fees, as well as associated expenses.
Net losses on investments for the segment were $19.8 million, which primarily consisted of losses on MBS due to higher interest rates.
Income from net loan servicing fees was $45.7 million, compared to losses of $77.8 million in the prior quarter. Net loan servicing fees included contractually specified servicing fees of $160.4 million and $3.0 million in other fees, reduced by $99.8 million in realization of MSR cash flows, which was up from $87.7 million in the prior quarter due to lower average yields during the quarter. Net loan servicing fees also included $71.6 million in fair value gains on MSRs driven by a higher interest rate compared to the end of the prior quarter, $89.8 million in hedging declines and $0.4 million of MSR recapture income. PMT’s hedging activities are intended to manage its net exposure across all interest rate sensitive strategies, which include MSRs, MBS and related tax impacts.
The following schedule details net loan servicing fees:
| Quarter ended | |||||||||||
| March 31, 2024 | December 31, 2023 | March 31, 2023 | |||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||
| From non-affiliates: | |||||||||||
| Contractually specified | $ | 160,357 | $ | 162,916 | $ | 164,214 | |||||
| Other fees | 3,011 | 2,487 | 3,943 | ||||||||
| Effect of MSRs: | |||||||||||
| Change in fair value | |||||||||||
| Realization of cashflows | (99,772 | ) | (87,729 | ) | (91,673 | ) | |||||
| Market changes | 71,570 | (144,603 | ) | (45,771 | ) | ||||||
| (28,202 | ) | (232,332 | ) | (137,444 | ) | ||||||
| Hedging results | (89,814 | ) | (11,191 | ) | (54,891 | ) | |||||
| (118,016 | ) | (243,523 | ) | (192,335 | ) | ||||||
| Net servicing fees from non-affiliates | 45,352 | (78,120 | ) | (24,178 | ) | ||||||
| From PFSI—MSR recapture income | 353 | 290 | 485 | ||||||||
| Net loan servicing fees | $ | 45,705 | $ | (77,830 | ) | $ | (23,693 | ) | |||
Net interest expense for the segment was $30.6 million versus $22.1 million in the prior quarter. Interest income totaled $104.2 million, down from $120.9 million in the prior quarter, and interest expense totaled $134.8 million, down from $142.9 million the prior quarter, both primarily due to lower average balances of MBS held during the quarter.
Segment expenses were $22.5 million, essentially unchanged from the prior quarter.
Correspondent Production Segment
PMT acquires newly originated loans from correspondent sellers and typically sells or securitizes the loans, resulting in current-period income and additions to its investments in MSRs related to a portion of its production. PMT’s Correspondent Production segment generated pretax income of $11.7 million in the first quarter, up slightly from $11.3 million in the prior quarter.
Through its correspondent production activities, PMT acquired a total of $18.1 billion in UPB of loans, down 23 percent from the prior quarter and 10 percent from the first quarter of 2023. The decline from the prior quarter was driven by increased competition from certain channel participants. Of total correspondent acquisitions, government-insured or guaranteed acquisitions totaled $8.2 billion, down 26 percent from the prior quarter, and conventional conforming acquisitions totaled $10.0 billion, down 21 percent from the prior quarter. $1.8 billion of conventional volume was for PMT’s account and $8.2 billion of conventional volume was for PFSI’s account. Interest rate lock commitments on conventional and jumbo loans for PMT’s account totaled $2.5 billion, down 9 percent from the prior quarter.
Segment revenues were $16.2 million and included net gains on loans acquired for sale of $14.5 million, other income of $2.1 million, which primarily consists of volume-based origination fees, and net interest expense of $0.4 million. Net gains on loans acquired for sale decreased $0.9 million from the prior quarter, primarily due to lower volumes. Interest income was $11.9 million, down from $16.4 million in the prior quarter, and interest expense was $12.3 million, down from $17.8 million in the prior quarter, both due to lower volumes.
Segment expenses were $4.5 million, down from $5.8 million the prior quarter primarily due to lower fulfillment fees as a result of lower volumes for PMT’s account. The weighted average fulfillment fee rate in the first quarter was 23 basis points, up from 20 basis points in the prior quarter.
Corporate Segment
The Corporate segment includes interest income from cash and short-term investments, management fees, and corporate expenses.
Segment revenues were $1.8 million, up from $1.1 million in the prior quarter. Management fees were $7.2 million, and other segment expenses were $7.5 million.
Taxes
PMT recorded a tax benefit of $15.2 million, driven primarily by fair value declines on assets held in PMT’s taxable subsidiary.
Management’s slide presentation and accompanying materials will be available in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at pmt.pennymac.com after the market closes on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Management will also host a conference call and live audio webcast at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time to review the Company’s financial results. The webcast can be accessed at pmt.pennymac.com, and a replay will be available shortly after its conclusion.
Individuals who are unable to access the website but would like to receive a copy of the materials should contact the Company’s Investor Relations department at 818.224.7028.
