Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) Short Interest Update

Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,700 shares, a drop of 9.3% from the March 31st total of 10,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Guild

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Guild in the 3rd quarter valued at about $358,000. GoodHaven Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Guild by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. GoodHaven Capital Management LLC now owns 174,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,917,000 after buying an additional 12,634 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its holdings in Guild by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 431,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,083,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in Guild by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,173,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,874,000 after buying an additional 26,510 shares during the period. 17.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GHLD. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Guild from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Guild from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on Guild in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company.

Guild Price Performance

NYSE GHLD traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $13.58. The stock had a trading volume of 2,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,088. Guild has a twelve month low of $9.45 and a twelve month high of $15.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $829.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.89 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $14.32 and its 200 day moving average is $13.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20.

Guild (NYSE:GHLD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.09. Guild had a positive return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 5.95%. The business had revenue of $57.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.82 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Guild will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Guild

Guild Holdings Company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans in the United States. It operates in two segments, Origination and Servicing. The company offers residential mortgages through retail and correspondent channels. Guild Holdings Company was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.