First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC – Get Rating) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 623,250 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,861 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in M.D.C. were worth $19,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MDC. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in M.D.C. during the fourth quarter worth about $13,721,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in M.D.C. by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,091,173 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $160,881,000 after acquiring an additional 284,105 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in M.D.C. by 222.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 373,180 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $14,059,000 after acquiring an additional 257,590 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in M.D.C. during the third quarter worth about $6,670,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in M.D.C. during the third quarter worth about $4,391,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of M.D.C. from $30.50 to $27.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.50.

M.D.C. Stock Performance

NYSE:MDC opened at $42.42 on Monday. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.04 and a 1-year high of $43.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 9.12 and a quick ratio of 3.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 1.37.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The construction company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.64. M.D.C. had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. M.D.C.’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

M.D.C. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. M.D.C.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other M.D.C. news, CEO David D. Mandarich sold 157,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.45, for a total transaction of $6,509,473.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,097,022 shares in the company, valued at $211,271,561.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other M.D.C. news, CEO David D. Mandarich sold 157,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.45, for a total transaction of $6,509,473.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,097,022 shares in the company, valued at $211,271,561.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David E. Blackford sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $165,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $754,925.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 337,609 shares of company stock worth $13,923,750 over the last ninety days. 23.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About M.D.C.

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M.DC Holdings, Inc engages in proving homebuilding and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: West, Mountain, and East. The West segment includes operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. The Mountain segment refers to the operations in Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.