Zacks Research Downgrades Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) to Hold

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Forestar Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Forestar Group in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Forestar Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Forestar Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.75.

Forestar Group Stock Up 2.1%

FOR stock opened at $24.46 on Monday. Forestar Group has a twelve month low of $18.00 and a twelve month high of $30.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.97 and a 200 day moving average of $26.17.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.09. Forestar Group had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 9.90%.The business had revenue of $273.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Forestar Group will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Forestar Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FOR. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Forestar Group by 32.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 227,559 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,811,000 after acquiring an additional 55,266 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 50.8% during 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 period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Forestar Group by 63.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,829 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,879 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Forestar Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $850,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Forestar Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $74,000. 35.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Forestar Group Company Profile

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.