Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI - Free Report) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,777,920 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 120,892 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.55% of D.R. Horton worth $339,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in D.R. Horton by 7.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,856,397 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $5,735,620,000 after buying an additional 2,474,262 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its stake in D.R. Horton by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 3,669,893 shares of the construction company's stock worth $517,198,000 after purchasing an additional 81,900 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in D.R. Horton by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,064,149 shares of the construction company's stock worth $290,901,000 after purchasing an additional 9,137 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in D.R. Horton by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,108,703 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $211,507,000 after purchasing an additional 62,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of D.R. Horton by 1,761.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,043,909 shares of the construction company's stock worth $147,118,000 after buying an additional 987,834 shares during the last quarter. 90.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

D.R. Horton Price Performance

DHI stock traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $168.11. 2,217,433 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,516,543. The stock's 50 day moving average is $185.40 and its 200 day moving average is $165.98. D.R. Horton, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.10 and a 12-month high of $199.85. The company has a market cap of $54.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 7.32 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.17 by ($0.25). D.R. Horton had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 12.93%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.45 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that D.R. Horton, Inc. will post 15.64 EPS for the current year.

D.R. Horton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from D.R. Horton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. D.R. Horton's dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

D.R. Horton declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 6.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DHI shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on D.R. Horton from $218.00 to $204.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on D.R. Horton from $178.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BTIG Research decreased their target price on D.R. Horton from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of D.R. Horton from $196.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of D.R. Horton from $217.00 to $214.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $185.87.

About D.R. Horton

D.R. Horton, Inc operates as a homebuilding company in East, North, Southeast, South Central, Southwest, and Northwest regions in the United States. It engages in the acquisition and development of land; and construction and sale of residential homes in 118 markets across 33 states under the names of D.R.