River Road Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its position in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,139 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,407 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.13% of M.D.C. worth $5,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of M.D.C. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $263,371,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of M.D.C. by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,984,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $287,979,000 after acquiring an additional 109,539 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of M.D.C. by 3.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,576,453 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $120,501,000 after acquiring an additional 94,919 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of M.D.C. by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,492,733 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $137,723,000 after acquiring an additional 940,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of M.D.C. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,492,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $61,541,000 after acquiring an additional 53,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at M.D.C.

In other news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total transaction of $388,678.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,534 shares in the company, valued at $848,446.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MDC shares. Evercore ISI downgraded M.D.C. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their target price for the company from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on M.D.C. in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, M.D.C. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.13.

M.D.C. Price Performance

MDC stock opened at $62.98 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.60. The company has a quick ratio of 3.92, a current ratio of 9.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.54. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.47 and a 52-week high of $63.00.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 8.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

M.D.C. Profile

M.DC Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the homebuilding and financial service businesses. Its homebuilding operations include purchasing finished lots or developing lots for the construction and sale primarily of single-family detached homes to first-time and first-time move-up homebuyers under the Richmond American Homes name.