American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.67.

Several research firms have issued reports on AMH. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of American Homes 4 Rent from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of American Homes 4 Rent stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 125,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,746,924. The trade was a 24.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Douglas N. Benham acquired 3,286 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.49 per share, with a total value of $80,474.14. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 41,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,027,257.54. This trade represents a 8.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 6.32% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Homes 4 Rent

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,948,804 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,681,984,000 after purchasing an additional 240,583 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Homes 4 Rent in the fourth quarter worth $822,019,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,987,142 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $598,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,351 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,805,224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $516,591,000 after purchasing an additional 689,741 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,983,364 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $336,157,000 after acquiring an additional 757,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.87% of the company's stock.

American Homes 4 Rent Price Performance

NYSE:AMH traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $35.21. 2,710,696 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,262,991. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $35.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.44. American Homes 4 Rent has a 1 year low of $34.01 and a 1 year high of $41.41. The company has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a PE ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.78.

American Homes 4 Rent Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from American Homes 4 Rent's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. American Homes 4 Rent's payout ratio is 108.33%.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the acquisition, renovation, leasing, and operating of single-family homes as rental properties. The company was founded by Bradley Wayne Hughes, Sr. on October 19, 2012 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.