D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) Short Interest Up 31.3% in November

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,130,000 shares, a growth of 31.3% from the October 31st total of 6,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Barbara K. Allen sold 5,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.10, for a total value of $921,515.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.74% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On D.R. Horton

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DHI. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in D.R. Horton by 360.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 271,038 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,706,000 after acquiring an additional 212,112 shares during the period. Legacy CG LLC acquired a new position in shares of D.R. Horton during the 3rd quarter worth $4,220,000. Schear Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of D.R. Horton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,308,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 50,605 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. lifted its stake in shares of D.R. Horton by 84.4% in the third quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 83,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,834,000 after purchasing an additional 38,000 shares during the period. 90.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price target on D.R. Horton from $200.00 to $192.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of D.R. Horton from $217.00 to $214.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush upgraded shares of D.R. Horton from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James cut shares of D.R. Horton from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on D.R. Horton from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $185.87.

D.R. Horton Stock Performance

Shares of DHI stock traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $168.78. The company had a trading volume of 1,148,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,507,221. The stock has a market cap of $54.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 7.32 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.21. D.R. Horton has a 52-week low of $125.43 and a 52-week high of $199.85.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.17 by ($0.25). D.R. Horton had a net margin of 12.93% and a return on equity of 19.24%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.22 billion. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.45 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that D.R. Horton will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

D.R. Horton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from D.R. Horton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. D.R. Horton’s payout ratio is presently 11.14%.

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.