Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Makes New Investment in M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 40,394 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $2,232,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of M.D.C. as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPLAN Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of M.D.C. during the 4th quarter valued at $992,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in M.D.C. by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 898,855 shares of the construction company's stock worth $49,662,000 after purchasing an additional 168,214 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al raised its position in M.D.C. by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 117,754 shares of the construction company's stock worth $4,855,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in M.D.C. during the 3rd quarter worth $1,803,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in M.D.C. by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 136,643 shares of the construction company's stock worth $5,634,000 after purchasing an additional 25,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MDC shares. StockNews.com started coverage on M.D.C. in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Evercore ISI lowered M.D.C. from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, M.D.C. has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.13.

M.D.C. Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MDC stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $62.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,860,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,791,521. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $62.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.20. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.47 and a 52 week high of $63.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a current ratio of 9.76. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.54.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The construction company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.06. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 8.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

M.D.C. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 6th. M.D.C.'s payout ratio is 41.67%.

Insider Activity at M.D.C.

In related news, Director David E. Blackford sold 6,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.69, for a total value of $388,678.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,534 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $848,446.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 23.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About M.D.C.

M.DC Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the homebuilding and financial service businesses. Its homebuilding operations include purchasing finished lots or developing lots for the construction and sale primarily of single-family detached homes to first-time and first-time move-up homebuyers under the Richmond American Homes name.