Short Interest in Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) Grows By 6.5%

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 1,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 299,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Beazer Homes USA in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Beazer Homes USA news, CFO David I. Goldberg sold 6,057 shares of Beazer Homes USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.06, for a total value of $194,187.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 131,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,199,988.24. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Beazer Homes USA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BZH. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA in the 3rd quarter valued at $125,000. Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Beazer Homes USA during the 3rd quarter worth about $182,000. Metis Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beazer Homes USA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Beazer Homes USA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $262,000. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $286,000. 85.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Beazer Homes USA Price Performance

Shares of BZH traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $28.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 204,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 238,045. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 14.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Beazer Homes USA has a one year low of $25.39 and a one year high of $38.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $880.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 2.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.03.

Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The construction company reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.34. Beazer Homes USA had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 11.95%. The business had revenue of $806.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $775.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Beazer Homes USA will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Beazer Homes USA

Beazer Homes USA, Inc operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It designs, constructs, and sells single-family and multi-family homes under the Beazer Homes, Gatherings, and Choice Plans names. The company also sells its homes through commissioned new home sales counselors and independent brokers in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.