Short Interest in Forestar Group Inc (NYSE:FOR) Expands By 35.1%

Forestar Group Inc (NYSE:FOR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 579,871 shares, a growth of 35.1% from the January 29th total of 429,159 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 200,629 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Based on an average daily volume of 200,629 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FOR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Forestar Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Forestar Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Forestar Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Forestar Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Forestar Group from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Forestar Group by 400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 500,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $13,295,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Forestar Group by 232.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 529,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,597,000 after acquiring an additional 370,685 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Forestar Group by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 489,230 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,342,000 after acquiring an additional 164,753 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 235.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 159,053 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,229,000 after purchasing an additional 111,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Forestar Group by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,769,594 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $73,644,000 after purchasing an additional 110,286 shares during the period. 35.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Forestar Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FOR traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 46,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,115. Forestar Group has a fifty-two week low of $18.00 and a fifty-two week high of $30.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.52. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.09. Forestar Group had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 9.90%.The firm had revenue of $273.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.48 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Forestar Group will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Forestar Group

Forestar Group Inc, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a residential lot development and management company focused on delivering finished home sites to homebuilders across the United States. The company acquires, entitles and develops land for single-family and multi-family housing, managing zoning, infrastructure and environmental approvals to prepare lots for construction. Forestar’s integrated approach to land development spans from initial site acquisition through final lot delivery, providing homebuilders with ready-to-build parcels in a variety of markets.

In addition to lot development, Forestar operates a retail homebuilding segment through joint ventures and strategic partnerships with national and regional homebuilders.