M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) Sees Strong Trading Volume

M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 869,143 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the previous session’s volume of 1,895,440 shares.The stock last traded at $62.98 and had previously closed at $62.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered M.D.C. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and lifted their target price for the stock 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 given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, M.D.C. currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.13.

M.D.C. Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 9.76 and a quick ratio of 3.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.82. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.54.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 8.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at M.D.C.

In other news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total transaction of $388,678.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $848,446.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 23.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On M.D.C.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in M.D.C. by 74.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 258,677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,789,000 after acquiring an additional 110,564 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 84,150 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,184,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,200 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of M.D.C. by 57.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 30,993 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 11,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in M.D.C. by 14.0% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 48,738 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,844,000 after buying an additional 6,003 shares during the last quarter. 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.