Short Interest in D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Increases By 12.4%

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,510,000 shares, an increase of 12.4% from the August 31st total of 4,900,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 70.5% during the second quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 179 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of D.R. Horton during the first quarter worth about $27,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in D.R. Horton in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in D.R. Horton in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in D.R. Horton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 90.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on DHI. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of D.R. Horton from $196.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on D.R. Horton from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on D.R. Horton from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, D.R. Horton has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $183.33.

D.R. Horton Price Performance

Shares of DHI stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $191.73. 724,081 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,473,050. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 7.22 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $63.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $183.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $161.01. D.R. Horton has a fifty-two week low of $100.08 and a fifty-two week high of $199.85.

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

D.R. Horton declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 18th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 6.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

D.R. Horton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. D.R. Horton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.17%.

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.