Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) Trading Down 4.9%

Shares of Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) dropped 4.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $34.33 and last traded at $34.38. Approximately 255,032 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 19% from the average daily volume of 213,882 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Forestar Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Forestar Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

Forestar Group Stock Down 5.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.15.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $305.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.00 million. Forestar Group had a net margin of 12.08% and a return on equity of 13.85%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Forestar Group Inc. will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forestar Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Forestar Group by 82.3% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 65,867 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,647,000 after buying an additional 29,743 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Forestar Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $786,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,777,578 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $91,855,000 after purchasing an additional 15,729 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 323,461 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 88,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new stake in shares of Forestar Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.50% of the company’s stock.

About Forestar Group

Forestar Group Inc operates as a residential lot development company in the United States. The company acquires land and develops infrastructure for single-family residential communities. It sells its residential single-family finished lots to local, regional, and national homebuilders. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Arlington, Texas.