American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Short Interest Update

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,920,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the March 15th total of 15,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

American Homes 4 Rent Price Performance

Shares of AMH traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,458,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,491,754. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.70. American Homes 4 Rent has a fifty-two week low of $31.36 and a fifty-two week high of $37.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

American Homes 4 Rent Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Bryan Smith sold 50,000 shares of American Homes 4 Rent stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total value of $1,838,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,617,576.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other American Homes 4 Rent news, Director Matthew J. Hart sold 7,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.76, for a total transaction of $266,987.88. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,519,511.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Bryan Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total transaction of $1,838,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 125,580 shares in the company, valued at $4,617,576.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,263 shares of company stock valued at $2,212,078. 6.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Homes 4 Rent

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in American Homes 4 Rent during the third quarter valued at about $510,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 18.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 7,711 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 59.2% during the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 172,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,198,000 after purchasing an additional 64,131 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 2.8% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 135,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,554,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,111,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $273,274,000 after purchasing an additional 287,245 shares during the last quarter. 91.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AMH. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Citigroup upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $41.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Homes 4 Rent presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.67.

American Homes 4 Rent Company Profile

AMH (NYSE: AMH) is a leading large-scale integrated owner, operator and developer of single-family rental homes. We're an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing and managing homes as rental properties. Our goal is to simplify the experience of leasing a home and deliver peace of mind to households across the country.