Short Interest in Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HHH) Expands By 22.2%

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HHH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,944,737 shares, an increase of 22.2% from the March 15th total of 2,408,784 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 529,832 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 9.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered Howard Hughes from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.33.

Howard Hughes Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE HHH traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $65.97. The company had a trading volume of 321,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 401,978. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Howard Hughes has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $91.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.80.

Howard Hughes (NYSE:HHH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $624.45 million during the quarter. Howard Hughes had a net margin of 8.40% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 36.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.25 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Howard Hughes will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Howard Hughes

In other news, General Counsel Joseph Valane purchased 1,260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.45 per share, for a total transaction of $81,207.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 29,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,882,520.05. This represents a 4.51% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 48.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Howard Hughes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Howard Hughes by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,613,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,513,000 after buying an additional 116,873 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Howard Hughes by 0.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 747,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,422,000 after buying an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. Crcm LP raised its stake in Howard Hughes by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Crcm LP now owns 612,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,886,000 after buying an additional 52,126 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Howard Hughes by 98.3% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 556,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,757,000 after buying an additional 276,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Howard Hughes in the fourth quarter valued at $31,957,000. 93.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment consists of developed or acquired retail, office, and multi-family properties along with other retail investments. Its MPCs segment develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial land designated for long-term community development projects in and around Las Vegas, Nevada; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona.