M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the construction company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MDC. Raymond James reissued a market perform rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Evercore ISI cut M.D.C. from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and raised their price target for the company from $57.00 to $63.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $52.13.

M.D.C. Stock Performance

M.D.C. stock opened at $62.98 on Friday. M.D.C. has a 12-month low of $36.47 and a 12-month high of $63.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.18. The company has a quick ratio of 3.92, a current ratio of 9.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.54.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. M.D.C. had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 12.32%. M.D.C.’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that M.D.C. will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total value of $388,678.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $848,446.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of M.D.C.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of M.D.C. during the fourth quarter worth $2,232,000. WealthPLAN Partners LLC acquired a new position in M.D.C. in the fourth quarter valued at about $992,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in M.D.C. by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 898,855 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $49,662,000 after acquiring an additional 168,214 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of M.D.C. in the fourth quarter worth about $1,300,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp Et Al raised its position in shares of M.D.C. by 0.8% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 117,754 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,855,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. 88.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

M.D.C. Company Profile

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.