HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 19,210,000 shares, an increase of 28.1% from the February 13th total of 15,000,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days.

HDFC Bank Stock Performance

HDB stock opened at $62.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $157.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.44. HDFC Bank has a one year low of $54.07 and a one year high of $68.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09.

HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.08. HDFC Bank had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 12.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that HDFC Bank will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of HDFC Bank by 104.1% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of HDFC Bank during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of HDFC Bank by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 617 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in HDFC Bank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HDB. Nomura raised shares of HDFC Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Nomura Securities upgraded shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

HDFC Bank Company Profile

HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits.