D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Short Interest Up 6.9% in March

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,990,000 shares, a growth of 6.9% from the March 15th total of 4,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DHI shares. Wedbush downgraded D.R. Horton from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their price target on D.R. Horton from $174.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on D.R. Horton from $116.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on D.R. Horton from $166.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on D.R. Horton from $155.00 to $192.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.00.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHI traded down $3.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $146.05. 3,085,836 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,971,996. The firm has a market cap of $48.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.64. D.R. Horton has a twelve month low of $97.92 and a twelve month high of $165.75. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 6.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The construction company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by ($0.06). D.R. Horton had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The business had revenue of $7.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that D.R. Horton will post 14.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. D.R. Horton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other D.R. Horton news, insider David V. Auld sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.33, for a total value of $3,908,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 773,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,862,005.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other D.R. Horton news, insider David V. Auld sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.33, for a total value of $3,908,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 773,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,862,005.93. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Barbara K. Allen sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.39, for a total value of $67,076.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $844,053.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,197 shares of company stock worth $4,225,745 in the last three months. 1.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in D.R. Horton by 53.7% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 3,489 shares in the last quarter. Voss Capital LLC purchased a new position in D.R. Horton in the 4th quarter valued at $7,599,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in D.R. Horton by 390.6% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 743,311 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $79,884,000 after purchasing an additional 591,787 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of D.R. Horton during the 3rd quarter worth $218,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 20,731 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,228,000 after acquiring an additional 6,272 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.63% of the company’s stock.

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.