Short Interest in Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) Increases By 6.5%

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) was the target of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the December 31st total of 1,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 299,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Beazer Homes USA in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO David I. Goldberg sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.06, for a total transaction of $194,187.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 131,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,199,988.24. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Beazer Homes USA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 122.3% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 19,449 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 10,700 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 43.8% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 211,010 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,794,000 after purchasing an additional 64,240 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,766 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Beazer Homes USA by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,727 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after buying an additional 16,933 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. purchased a new position in Beazer Homes USA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,000. 85.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Beazer Homes USA Trading Up 3.4 %

BZH stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.05. The company had a trading volume of 162,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 370,806. The firm has a market capitalization of $687.99 million, a P/E ratio of 5.62, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 15.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Beazer Homes USA has a 52-week low of $20.66 and a 52-week high of $38.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.91.

Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The construction company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.21). Beazer Homes USA had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 10.12%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Beazer Homes USA will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Beazer Homes USA Company Profile

Beazer Homes USA, Inc operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It designs, constructs, and sells single-family and multi-family homes under the Beazer Homes, Gatherings, and Choice Plans names. The company also sells its homes through commissioned new home sales counselors and independent brokers in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.