Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) Short Interest Update

Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) saw 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. Based on an average trading volume of 160,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Forestar Group Stock Performance

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

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.33). The firm 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% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Forestar Group will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Forestar Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Forestar Group by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 360,471 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $11,668,000 after purchasing an additional 43,369 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Forestar Group by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 330,462 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $8,566,000 after purchasing an additional 12,473 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 57,622 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,865,000 after acquiring an additional 9,733 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Forestar Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,296,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Forestar Group by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 62,237 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,015,000 after purchasing an additional 26,360 shares in the last quarter. 35.50% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on FOR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Forestar Group from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Forestar Group from $39.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Forestar Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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.