Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) Short Interest Update

Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,700 shares, a growth of 57.0% from the May 15th total of 10,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Guild news, CEO Terry Lynn Schmidt bought 3,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.12 per share, for a total transaction of $58,515.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,798,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,113,528.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Guild news, CEO Terry Lynn Schmidt bought 3,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.12 per share, for a total transaction of $58,515.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,798,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,113,528.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO David Manuel Neylan bought 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.12 per share, with a total value of $31,982.08. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 396,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,143.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 13,370 shares of company stock worth $214,346. Corporate insiders own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GHLD. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Guild during the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in Guild by 2.1% in the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 440,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,503,000 after acquiring an additional 9,126 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guild by 8.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 237,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,508,000 after acquiring an additional 17,992 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Guild by 2.3% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,173,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,874,000 after purchasing an additional 26,510 shares during the period. Finally, GoodHaven Capital Management LLC grew its position in Guild by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. GoodHaven Capital Management LLC now owns 174,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,917,000 after purchasing an additional 12,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 17.52% of the company’s stock.

Guild Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GHLD opened at $14.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $894.34 million, a PE ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.14. Guild has a twelve month low of $9.59 and a twelve month high of $17.24.

Guild (NYSE:GHLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.11). Guild had a net margin of 3.41% and a return on equity of 4.25%. The business had revenue of $231.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Guild will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Guild Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GHLD. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Guild in a research note on Friday, May 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Guild in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Guild from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Guild from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Guild currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.60.

About Guild

Guild Holdings Company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans in the United States. It operates in two segments, Origination and Servicing. The company offers residential mortgages through retail and correspondent channels. Guild Holdings Company was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.