American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $40.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous target price of $39.00.

AMH has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays began coverage on American Homes 4 Rent in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.67.

American Homes 4 Rent Price Performance

AMH stock opened at $34.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.55. The firm has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. American Homes 4 Rent has a 1 year low of $33.75 and a 1 year high of $41.41.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $445.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $443.81 million. American Homes 4 Rent had a net margin of 21.51% and a return on equity of 4.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Homes 4 Rent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 108.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas N. Benham acquired 3,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.49 per share, for a total transaction of $80,474.14. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 41,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,027,257.54. This represents a 8.50 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $1,512,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,746,924. The trade was a 24.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Homes 4 Rent

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the third quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 331.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 359.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 31.6% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Homes 4 Rent in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 91.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Homes 4 Rent Company Profile

American Homes 4 Rent operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the acquisition, renovation, leasing, and operating of single-family homes as rental properties. The company was founded by Bradley Wayne Hughes, Sr. on October 19, 2012 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.