D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Short Interest Down 7.4% in August

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,900,000 shares, a decline of 7.4% from the August 15th total of 5,290,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on DHI. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on D.R. Horton from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of D.R. Horton from $168.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on D.R. Horton from $178.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, D.R. Horton has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $182.07.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

NYSE:DHI traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.68. 1,465,362 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,479,778. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 7.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.56. D.R. Horton has a fifty-two week low of $100.08 and a fifty-two week high of $197.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.73.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The construction company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.35. D.R. Horton had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 20.72%. The business had revenue of $9.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that D.R. Horton will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 18th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 6.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is 8.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On D.R. Horton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $516,530,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 7.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,856,397 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,735,620,000 after buying an additional 2,474,262 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of D.R. Horton by 1,761.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,043,909 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $147,118,000 after acquiring an additional 987,834 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 51.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,657,028 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $233,525,000 after acquiring an additional 561,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Long Pond Capital LP grew its position in D.R. Horton by 438.6% during the 1st quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 659,761 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $108,564,000 after acquiring an additional 537,276 shares during the last quarter. 90.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About D.R. Horton

D.R. Horton, Inc operates as a homebuilding company in East, North, Southeast, South Central, Southwest, and Northwest regions in the United States. It engages in the acquisition and development of land; and construction and sale of residential homes in 118 markets across 33 states under the names of D.R.