American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.30 Per Share

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26.

American Homes 4 Rent has increased its dividend by an average of 37.5% annually over the last three years. American Homes 4 Rent has a payout ratio of 142.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect American Homes 4 Rent to earn $1.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.9%.

American Homes 4 Rent Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AMH traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $35.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,189,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,245,959. The firm has a market cap of $13.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. American Homes 4 Rent has a twelve month low of $33.95 and a twelve month high of $41.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Homes 4 Rent

In other news, Director Douglas N. Benham bought 3,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.49 per share, with a total value of $80,474.14. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 41,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,257.54. This represents a 8.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of American Homes 4 Rent stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $1,512,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,746,924. This represents a 24.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMH. Barclays lowered their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised American Homes 4 Rent from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.67.

American Homes 4 Rent Company Profile

American Homes 4 Rent operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the acquisition, renovation, leasing, and operating of single-family homes as rental properties. The company was founded by Bradley Wayne Hughes, Sr. on October 19, 2012 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.