Short Interest in Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) Rises By 19.0%

Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 539,900 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the January 15th total of 453,700 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 160,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Forestar Group Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE FOR opened at $23.21 on Monday. Forestar Group has a 1-year low of $22.42 and a 1-year high of $40.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.33 and a 200-day moving average of $28.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 6.50 and a beta of 1.72.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $318.00 million. Forestar Group had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 11.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Forestar Group will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Forestar Group by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,535 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Forestar Group by 84.3% in the 4th quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 41,624 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 19,039 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Forestar Group by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 172,293 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $4,466,000 after acquiring an additional 44,885 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Forestar Group by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 217,260 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $5,631,000 after acquiring an additional 12,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Forestar Group by 155.3% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 14,044 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 8,544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 35.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FOR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Forestar Group from $39.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Forestar Group from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Forestar Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th.

About Forestar Group

Forestar Group Inc operates as a residential lot development company in the United States. The company acquires land and develops infrastructure for single-family residential communities. It sells its residential single-family finished lots to local, regional, and national homebuilders. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Arlington, Texas.