Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Forestar Group Inc (NYSE:FOR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $29.67 and last traded at $29.3750, with a volume of 33988 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FOR. Citigroup raised their target price on Forestar Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Forestar Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. JMP Securities set a $35.00 target price on shares of Forestar Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Forestar Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Forestar Group from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.40.

Forestar Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.09.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.09. Forestar Group had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 9.76%. The firm had revenue of $273.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Forestar Group Inc will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Forestar Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FOR. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 400.0% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 500,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,295,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Forestar Group by 232.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 529,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,597,000 after acquiring an additional 370,685 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Forestar Group by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 489,230 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,342,000 after purchasing an additional 164,753 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Forestar Group by 235.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 159,053 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $4,229,000 after purchasing an additional 111,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Forestar Group by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,769,594 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $73,644,000 after purchasing an additional 110,286 shares in the last quarter. 35.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Forestar Group

Forestar Group Inc, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a residential lot development and management company focused on delivering finished home sites to homebuilders across the United States. The company acquires, entitles and develops land for single-family and multi-family housing, managing zoning, infrastructure and environmental approvals to prepare lots for construction. Forestar’s integrated approach to land development spans from initial site acquisition through final lot delivery, providing homebuilders with ready-to-build parcels in a variety of markets.

In addition to lot development, Forestar operates a retail homebuilding segment through joint ventures and strategic partnerships with national and regional homebuilders.