BTIG Research Begins Coverage on Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR)

Equities research analysts at BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock.

FOR has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Research upgraded Forestar Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Forestar Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Forestar Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Forestar Group in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.75.

Forestar Group Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE FOR opened at $24.46 on Monday. Forestar Group has a 52 week low of $18.00 and a 52 week high of $30.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 1.42.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.09. Forestar Group had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 9.90%.The firm had revenue of $273.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Forestar Group will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in Forestar Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,003,000. Dimension Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Forestar Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,512,000. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Forestar Group by 400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 500,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $13,295,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Forestar Group by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,769,594 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $73,644,000 after buying an additional 110,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Forestar Group by 232.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 35,067 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 24,531 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 35.50% of the company’s stock.

Forestar Group Company Profile

Forestar Group Inc, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a residential lot development and management company focused on delivering finished home sites to homebuilders across the United States. The company acquires, entitles and develops land for single-family and multi-family housing, managing zoning, infrastructure and environmental approvals to prepare lots for construction. Forestar’s integrated approach to land development spans from initial site acquisition through final lot delivery, providing homebuilders with ready-to-build parcels in a variety of markets.

In addition to lot development, Forestar operates a retail homebuilding segment through joint ventures and strategic partnerships with national and regional homebuilders.