American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Raises Dividend to $0.30 Per Share

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from American Homes 4 Rent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26.

American Homes 4 Rent has raised its dividend payment by an average of 37.5% per year over the last three years. American Homes 4 Rent has a dividend 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. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMH traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $35.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,189,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,245,959. American Homes 4 Rent has a one year low of $33.95 and a one year high of $41.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.44. The firm has a market cap of $13.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AMH shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut American Homes 4 Rent from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Scotiabank cut American Homes 4 Rent from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut American Homes 4 Rent from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded American Homes 4 Rent from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded American Homes 4 Rent from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Homes 4 Rent news, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,746,924. The trade was a 24.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas N. Benham purchased 3,286 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.49 per share, for a total transaction of $80,474.14. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 41,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,027,257.54. This trade represents a 8.50 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.