Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 14,827 Shares of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 388,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 14,827 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in American Homes 4 Rent were worth $14,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in American Homes 4 Rent in the third quarter valued at $962,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,367,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in American Homes 4 Rent during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 96.7% in the second quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 248,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,227,000 after acquiring an additional 122,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in American Homes 4 Rent by 6.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 307,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,437,000 after acquiring an additional 19,143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.87% of the company’s stock.

American Homes 4 Rent Stock Up 1.3 %

AMH stock opened at $36.52 on Friday. American Homes 4 Rent has a 1-year low of $33.75 and a 1-year high of $41.41. The stock has a market cap of $13.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $445.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.81 million. American Homes 4 Rent had a net margin of 21.51% and a return on equity of 4.76%. American Homes 4 Rent’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Analysts expect that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

American Homes 4 Rent Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.33%.

Insider Activity at American Homes 4 Rent

In other news, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $1,512,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,746,924. The trade was a 24.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas N. Benham purchased 3,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.49 per share, for a total transaction of $80,474.14. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,946 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,257.54. This represents a 8.50 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a report on Tuesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Homes 4 Rent currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.38.

American Homes 4 Rent Company Profile

AMH (NYSE: AMH) is a leading large-scale integrated owner, operator and developer of single-family rental homes. We're an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing and managing homes as rental properties. Our goal is to simplify the experience of leasing a home and deliver peace of mind to households across the country.