American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,410,000 shares, an increase of 9.1% from the October 31st total of 7,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AMH. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Homes 4 Rent from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMH. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 359.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 91.87% of the company’s stock.

American Homes 4 Rent Stock Up 0.1 %

AMH traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.46. 398,176 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,518,623. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a PE ratio of 39.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 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 data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.23). American Homes 4 Rent had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 21.51%. The firm had revenue of $445.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

American Homes 4 Rent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 108.33%.

About American Homes 4 Rent

AMH (NYSE: AMH) is a leading large-scale integrated owner, operator and developer of single-family rental homes. We're an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing and managing homes as rental properties. Our goal is to simplify the experience of leasing a home and deliver peace of mind to households across the country.