Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KW) Short Interest Up 19.4% in March

Key Points

• Short interest in Kennedy-Wilson rose by 19.4% in March to 3,933,324 shares, equal to about 3.6% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 3.2 days.
• Analysts carry a consensus rating of "Reduce" with an average target of $11.00, yet large institutions (institutional ownership 87.72%) — including Sumitomo Mitsui and Alberta Investment Management — materially increased their positions.
• Kennedy-Wilson recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.12 (annualized yield ~4.4%) while trading near $10.90 with a $1.51B market cap and a negative PE, signaling payout despite profitability concerns.

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KW - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,933,324 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the March 15th total of 3,295,165 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,216,058 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on KW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Kennedy-Wilson in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kennedy-Wilson from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $11.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KW. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Kennedy-Wilson by 916.0% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,765,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,601,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493,628 shares during the last quarter. Vision Capital Corp bought a new position in Kennedy-Wilson in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,661,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its position in Kennedy-Wilson by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 4,100,322 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,245 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Kennedy-Wilson in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,961,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Kennedy-Wilson by 133.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,390,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,570,000 after purchasing an additional 795,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company's stock.

Kennedy-Wilson Price Performance

Kennedy-Wilson stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $10.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 726,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 945,659. Kennedy-Wilson has a 52 week low of $5.98 and a 52 week high of $10.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of -37.57 and a beta of 0.93.

Kennedy-Wilson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Kennedy-Wilson's payout ratio is currently -165.52%.

About Kennedy-Wilson

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc is a publicly traded global real estate investment company that acquires, develops and manages a diversified portfolio of properties. Its core activities include investing in office, multifamily, retail, industrial and self-storage assets while providing comprehensive property management, leasing, capital markets and investment management services to institutional and private clients.

Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, Kennedy-Wilson operates through two principal business segments: Investments and Asset Services.

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