Heartland Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Forestar Group Inc $FOR

Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Forestar Group Inc (NYSE:FOR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 474,813 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,028,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.93% of Forestar Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Forestar Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,813,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $69,285,000 after acquiring an additional 43,440 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Forestar Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,805,806 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $68,573,000 after purchasing an additional 30,347 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Forestar Group during the second quarter worth about $56,174,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Forestar Group by 232.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 529,863 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $10,597,000 after purchasing an additional 370,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Forestar Group by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 511,362 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,594,000 after purchasing an additional 10,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Forestar Group in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Forestar Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.67.

Forestar Group Trading Up 0.9%

FOR opened at $29.15 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. Forestar Group Inc has a 12 month low of $22.81 and a 12 month high of $32.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.41.

Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $407.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $437.73 million. Forestar Group had a net margin of 9.88% and a return on equity of 9.42%. Forestar Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS.

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.