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

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the December 31st total of 1,550,000 shares. Approximately 5.7% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 299,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Beazer Homes USA in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

Insider Transactions at Beazer Homes USA

In related news, CFO David I. Goldberg sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,199,988.24. This represents a 4.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BZH. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Beazer Homes USA during the third quarter worth about $125,000. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $182,000. Metis Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $262,000. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new position in Beazer Homes USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Institutional investors own 85.65% of the company's stock.

Beazer Homes USA Stock Performance

NYSE BZH traded down $0.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.94. 519,322 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 415,321. Beazer Homes USA has a fifty-two week low of $20.66 and a fifty-two week high of $38.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $684.53 million, a P/E ratio of 5.58, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 2.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 15.52 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The construction company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.21). Beazer Homes USA had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 5.04%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Beazer Homes USA will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.