Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $182,000 in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,300 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of M.D.C. in the fourth quarter worth $263,371,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of M.D.C. by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,984,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $287,979,000 after acquiring an additional 109,539 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of M.D.C. by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,576,453 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $120,501,000 after acquiring an additional 94,919 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of M.D.C. by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,492,733 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $137,723,000 after buying an additional 940,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of M.D.C. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,492,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $61,541,000 after buying an additional 53,421 shares in the last quarter. 88.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MDC. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of M.D.C. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.13.

Insider Activity at M.D.C.

In related news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total value of $388,678.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,446.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 23.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

M.D.C. Stock Performance

Shares of MDC remained flat at $62.98 during midday trading on Friday. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.47 and a 1-year high of $63.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.92, a current ratio of 9.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.82.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.06. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 8.64%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

About M.D.C.

M.DC Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the homebuilding and financial service businesses. Its homebuilding operations include purchasing finished lots or developing lots for the construction and sale primarily of single-family detached homes to first-time and first-time move-up homebuyers under the Richmond American Homes name.