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

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,900,000 shares, a drop of 7.4% from the August 15th total of 5,290,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

D.R. Horton Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of DHI traded up $1.33 on Wednesday, hitting $196.68. 1,465,362 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,479,778. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 7.22. D.R. Horton has a one year low of $100.08 and a one year high of $197.52. The company has a market capitalization of $64.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.73.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The construction company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $9.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. D.R. Horton had a return on equity of 20.72% and a net margin of 13.36%. D.R. Horton’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that D.R. Horton will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is currently 8.17%.

D.R. Horton declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 18th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to purchase up to 6.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHI has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of D.R. Horton from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on D.R. Horton from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of D.R. Horton from $168.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of D.R. Horton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, D.R. Horton presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.07.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bfsg LLC grew its stake in shares of D.R. Horton by 70.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 179 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in D.R. Horton in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of D.R. Horton in the second quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.63% of the company’s stock.

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.