Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 240,583 Shares of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,948,804 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 240,583 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of American Homes 4 Rent worth $1,681,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Homes 4 Rent by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,337,000 after buying an additional 8,370 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. bought a new position in American Homes 4 Rent in the third quarter valued at approximately $962,000. PGGM Investments raised its position in American Homes 4 Rent by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,062,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,760,000 after purchasing an additional 71,890 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in American Homes 4 Rent by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,334,035 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,180,000 after purchasing an additional 110,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in American Homes 4 Rent by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,958,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,701,000 after purchasing an additional 248,729 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.87% of the company’s stock.

American Homes 4 Rent Stock Performance

Shares of American Homes 4 Rent stock opened at $37.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.77. American Homes 4 Rent has a twelve month low of $34.01 and a twelve month high of $41.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $35.56 and its 200 day moving average is $36.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.30. American Homes 4 Rent had a return on equity of 5.33% and a net margin of 23.86%. The firm had revenue of $436.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $442.02 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

American Homes 4 Rent Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. American Homes 4 Rent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 111.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AMH shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut American Homes 4 Rent from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of American Homes 4 Rent from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Homes 4 Rent currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.29.

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.