HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 19,210,000 shares, an increase of 28.1% from the February 13th total of 15,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

HDFC Bank Price Performance

Shares of HDB stock traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.36. The company had a trading volume of 2,874,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,559,403. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.43. HDFC Bank has a 52-week low of $54.07 and a 52-week high of $68.50. The company has a market capitalization of $157.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09.

HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.08. HDFC Bank had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 12.19%. Equities research analysts forecast that HDFC Bank will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HDFC Bank

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 3.6% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 4,807 shares of the bank’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 19,963 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 7.0% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 3,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 617 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,855 shares of the bank’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 17.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on HDB. Nomura upgraded shares of HDFC Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Nomura Securities raised shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

HDFC Bank Company Profile

HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits.