Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) Short Interest Up 6.5% in January

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the December 31st total of 1,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 299,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Beazer Homes USA Stock Performance

NYSE BZH opened at $21.29 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 15.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Beazer Homes USA has a 12-month low of $20.66 and a 12-month high of $38.22. The firm has a market cap of $664.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.42, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.22.

Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The construction company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.21). Beazer Homes USA had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 10.12%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Beazer Homes USA will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Beazer Homes USA in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Beazer Homes USA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.67.

Insider Transactions at Beazer Homes USA

In other news, CFO David I. Goldberg sold 6,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.06, for a total transaction of $194,187.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 131,004 shares in the company, valued at $4,199,988.24. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 6.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Beazer Homes USA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 122.3% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 19,449 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 43.8% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 211,010 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,794,000 after buying an additional 64,240 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 17,766 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,727 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after purchasing an additional 16,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. purchased a new stake in Beazer Homes USA during the 4th quarter valued at $275,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.65% of the company’s stock.

About Beazer Homes USA

Beazer Homes USA, Inc operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It designs, constructs, and sells single-family and multi-family homes under the Beazer Homes, Gatherings, and Choice Plans names. The company also sells its homes through commissioned new home sales counselors and independent brokers in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.