D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Short Interest Down 15.3% in February

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,780,000 shares, a decrease of 15.3% from the February 13th total of 8,000,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On D.R. Horton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC acquired a new stake in D.R. Horton in the third quarter valued at $1,853,178,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in D.R. Horton by 44.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,906,129 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,508,252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442,581 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of D.R. Horton by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,235,518 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,009,077,000 after buying an additional 127,606 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of D.R. Horton during the 4th quarter worth $593,363,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of D.R. Horton by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,574,409 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,774,000 after buying an additional 1,490,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.63% of the company’s stock.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

Shares of DHI traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $131.42. 2,432,272 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,658,468. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.79. D.R. Horton has a 52-week low of $124.23 and a 52-week high of $199.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 6.92 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.80.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The construction company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.24. D.R. Horton had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 18.48%. The firm had revenue of $7.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. D.R. Horton’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that D.R. Horton will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. D.R. Horton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHI has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of D.R. Horton in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of D.R. Horton from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $188.00 to $156.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $185.00 to $152.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $214.00 to $203.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.93.

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.