New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 182,198 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,529 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in American Homes 4 Rent were worth $6,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMH. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in American Homes 4 Rent by 359.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Homes 4 Rent during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 3,136.2% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in American Homes 4 Rent in the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. 91.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMH. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank downgraded American Homes 4 Rent from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,746,924. This represents a 24.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Douglas N. Benham acquired 3,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $24.49 per share, for a total transaction of $80,474.14. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Homes 4 Rent Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:AMH opened at $34.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.62 and a 200-day moving average of $37.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.78. American Homes 4 Rent has a 52 week low of $34.01 and a 52 week high of $41.41.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $436.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.02 million. American Homes 4 Rent had a return on equity of 5.33% and a net margin of 23.86%. Analysts predict that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

American Homes 4 Rent Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. American Homes 4 Rent’s payout ratio is presently 96.30%.

About American Homes 4 Rent

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.