Short Interest in Dynex Capital, Inc. (NYSE:DX) Expands By 7.9%

Dynex Capital, Inc. (NYSE:DX) saw a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,750,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the August 15th total of 5,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dynex Capital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Dynex Capital by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,042,634 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,881,000 after buying an additional 41,586 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Dynex Capital by 62.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,575,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,756,000 after purchasing an additional 986,471 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Dynex Capital by 11.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,956,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,355,000 after purchasing an additional 199,337 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Dynex Capital by 69.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 719,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,587,000 after purchasing an additional 293,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Dynex Capital by 15.8% during the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 552,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,594,000 after purchasing an additional 75,553 shares during the period. 38.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DX shares. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Dynex Capital in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $13.50 price target for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Dynex Capital in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Dynex Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dynex Capital has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.35.

Dynex Capital Price Performance

NYSE:DX opened at $12.87 on Tuesday. Dynex Capital has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $13.40. The firm has a market cap of $826.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Dynex Capital (NYSE:DX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $76.05 million for the quarter. Dynex Capital had a net margin of 4.63% and a negative return on equity of 6.08%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.27) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Dynex Capital will post 1 EPS for the current year.

Dynex Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 23rd. Dynex Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

About Dynex Capital

Dynex Capital, Inc, a mortgage real estate investment trust, invests in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) on a leveraged basis in the United States. It invests in agency and non-agency MBS consisting of residential MBS, commercial MBS (CMBS), and CMBS interest-only securities. Agency MBS have a guaranty of principal payment by an agency of the U.S.