Short Interest in D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Drops By 7.4%

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) saw a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,900,000 shares, a decrease of 7.4% from the August 15th total of 5,290,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DHI shares. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of D.R. Horton from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $163.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of D.R. Horton from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $181.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $168.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $182.07.

Institutional Trading of D.R. Horton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of D.R. Horton by 105.2% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 675 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton during the 2nd quarter valued at $812,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of D.R. Horton during the 2nd quarter valued at $13,668,000. Clear Rock Advisors LLC raised its position in D.R. Horton by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Rock Advisors LLC now owns 24,412 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in shares of D.R. Horton by 0.7% in the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 154,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $21,818,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.63% of the company’s stock.

D.R. Horton Price Performance

NYSE:DHI traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $196.17. The stock had a trading volume of 660,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,476,659. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 7.22 and a quick ratio of 1.30. D.R. Horton has a one year low of $100.08 and a one year high of $199.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.73.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The construction company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.35. D.R. Horton had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 20.72%. The firm had revenue of $9.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that D.R. Horton will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is 8.17%.

D.R. Horton announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 6.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.