American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Short Interest Up 7.3% in August

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,310,000 shares, a growth of 7.3% from the August 15th total of 9,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

American Homes 4 Rent Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:AMH traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $39.66. 2,160,535 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,639,571. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.85. American Homes 4 Rent has a twelve month low of $31.36 and a twelve month high of $41.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.76.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $423.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $422.46 million. American Homes 4 Rent had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 4.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Homes 4 Rent Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Homes 4 Rent from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their price objective on American Homes 4 Rent from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com upgraded American Homes 4 Rent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Homes 4 Rent from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Homes 4 Rent has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter valued at $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.87% of the company’s stock.

American Homes 4 Rent Company Profile

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.