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

Shares of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 869,143 shares traded hands during mid-day 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 brokerages recently issued reports on MDC. Evercore ISI lowered M.D.C. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com began coverage on M.D.C. in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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 firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.72 and its 200-day moving average is $53.82.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other M.D.C. news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total transaction of $388,678.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $848,446.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On M.D.C.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of M.D.C. in the 4th quarter valued at about $263,371,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,492,733 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $137,723,000 after acquiring an additional 940,810 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of M.D.C. by 259.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 593,177 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $18,744,000 after purchasing an additional 428,286 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of M.D.C. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,291,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 96.8% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 646,753 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,249,000 after purchasing an additional 318,101 shares in 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.