HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 19,210,000 shares, an increase of 28.1% from the February 13th total of 15,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.5 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Nomura upgraded shares of HDFC Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Nomura Securities upgraded shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Trading of HDFC Bank

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of HDFC Bank by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 617 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 17.61% of the company’s stock.

HDFC Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HDB opened at $62.36 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09. HDFC Bank has a 1 year low of $54.07 and a 1 year high of $68.50.

HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.08. HDFC Bank had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 12.19%. As a group, research analysts predict that HDFC Bank will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HDFC Bank Company Profile

HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits.