D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,780,000 shares, a drop of 15.3% from the February 13th total of 8,000,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on DHI shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of D.R. Horton in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded D.R. Horton from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of D.R. Horton in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of D.R. Horton in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, D.R. Horton has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On D.R. Horton

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DHI. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC acquired a new stake in D.R. Horton during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,853,178,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in D.R. Horton during the 4th quarter worth about $593,363,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in D.R. Horton by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,906,129 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,508,252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442,581 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in D.R. Horton by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,574,409 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,490,648 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in D.R. Horton by 1,838.0% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 877,644 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $122,712,000 after acquiring an additional 832,358 shares during the period. 90.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

NYSE DHI traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $131.42. The company had a trading volume of 2,432,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,658,468. The firm has a market cap of $41.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 6.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. D.R. Horton has a fifty-two week low of $124.23 and a fifty-two week high of $199.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.79.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The construction company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. D.R. Horton had a return on equity of 18.48% and a net margin of 12.69%. The business had revenue of $7.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. D.R. Horton’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that D.R. Horton will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

D.R. Horton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is presently 11.31%.

D.R. Horton Company Profile

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.