D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,330,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the March 31st total of 4,990,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other D.R. Horton news, Director Barbara K. Allen sold 449 shares of D.R. Horton stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.39, for a total transaction of $67,076.11. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,053.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Barbara K. Allen sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.39, for a total transaction of $67,076.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,053.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David V. Auld sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.33, for a total value of $3,908,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 773,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,862,005.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,812 shares of company stock worth $4,029,217 in the last quarter. 1.74% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of D.R. Horton

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in D.R. Horton during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in D.R. Horton during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in D.R. Horton during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. 90.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on D.R. Horton from $150.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on D.R. Horton from $192.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of D.R. Horton from $141.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $175.00 to $172.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on D.R. Horton from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, D.R. Horton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.06.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

DHI opened at $143.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $47.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.66. D.R. Horton has a 52-week low of $100.08 and a 52-week high of $165.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 7.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.14.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The construction company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.44. D.R. Horton had a return on equity of 21.32% and a net margin of 13.39%. The company had revenue of $9.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.73 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that D.R. Horton will post 14.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is currently 8.17%.

About D.R. Horton

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.