Short Interest in Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) Decreases By 18.2%

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 6,276,623 shares, a decline of 18.2% from the December 15th total of 7,675,906 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,378,459 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,378,459 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Genworth Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Genworth Financial by 1.0% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,493,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $235,793,000 after acquiring an additional 270,062 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Genworth Financial by 7.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,567,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,151,000 after purchasing an additional 704,498 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Genworth Financial by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,291,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248,374 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Genworth Financial by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,523,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,413,000 after purchasing an additional 774,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Genworth Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,992,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GNW. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Genworth Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Genworth Financial from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Genworth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Genworth Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Genworth Financial Stock Performance

Genworth Financial stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $8.38. 5,160,202 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,412,539. Genworth Financial has a twelve month low of $5.99 and a twelve month high of $9.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.02). Genworth Financial had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 1.56%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter.

About Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) is a leading financial security company offering a broad range of insurance products. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth provides individuals and families with solutions designed to protect against long-term care expenses, secure life insurance needs and support homeownership through private mortgage insurance. With operations spanning the United States, Canada and Australia, the company serves both retail and institutional clients through a diversified portfolio of risk management services.

The company’s Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) segment offers coverage to lenders and consumers in the US, Canada and Australia, enabling homebuyers to purchase properties with lower down payments.