KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE) Short Interest Up 25.1% in June

KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE) saw a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 31,590,000 shares, an increase of 25.1% from the May 31st total of 25,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BEKE shares. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $21.10 target price on shares of KE in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of KE from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, HSBC reduced their target price on shares of KE from $23.90 to $21.80 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th.

KE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEKE opened at $14.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $16.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.21 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of -0.72. KE has a 52 week low of $12.44 and a 52 week high of $20.48.

KE (NYSE:BEKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.01. KE had a return on equity of 6.04% and a net margin of 4.80%. The company had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that KE will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of KE

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of KE by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 75,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 18,263 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in KE by 108.9% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 26,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 14,001 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KE in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,213,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KE by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 790,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,263,000 after acquiring an additional 94,624 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of KE by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 630,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,780,000 after acquiring an additional 66,182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

About KE

KE Holdings Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in operating an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services in the People's Republic of China. It operates through four segments: Existing Home Transaction Services, New Home Transaction Services, Home Renovation and Furnishing, and Emerging and Other Services.