Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Position in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,787 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,618 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in M.D.C. were worth $1,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of M.D.C. in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in M.D.C. in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in M.D.C. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in M.D.C. in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in M.D.C. by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total value of $388,678.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,446.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

M.D.C. Price Performance

MDC opened at $62.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a current ratio of 9.76. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.47 and a 1 year high of $63.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.54.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.06. M.D.C. had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI cut shares of M.D.C. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.13.

About M.D.C.

M.DC Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the homebuilding and financial service businesses. Its homebuilding operations include purchasing finished lots or developing lots for the construction and sale primarily of single-family detached homes to first-time and first-time move-up homebuyers under the Richmond American Homes name.