Short Interest in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Drops By 7.6%

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

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Bryan Smith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares in the company, valued at $4,617,576.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Homes 4 Rent news, COO Bryan Smith sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total transaction of $1,838,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,617,576.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Brian Reitz sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $106,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,255,736.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,263 shares of company stock worth $2,212,078 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Homes 4 Rent

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 35.5% during the first quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 17,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 4,585 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 11.3% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in American Homes 4 Rent by 40.0% in the first quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 24,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in American Homes 4 Rent by 24.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in American Homes 4 Rent in the first quarter valued at $5,711,000. 91.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Homes 4 Rent presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.67.

American Homes 4 Rent Trading Down 1.1 %

AMH traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.68. The stock had a trading volume of 1,458,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,491,754. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.70. American Homes 4 Rent has a 1-year low of $31.36 and a 1-year high of $37.97.

American Homes 4 Rent Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is a positive change from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.00%.

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.