Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KW) Short Interest Update

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KW) was the target of a large drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,580,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the September 15th total of 4,900,000 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 627,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennedy-Wilson

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Kennedy-Wilson by 1,238.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 704,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,047,000 after purchasing an additional 652,116 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Kennedy-Wilson in the 1st quarter worth about $5,007,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kennedy-Wilson by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 868,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,448,000 after purchasing an additional 205,890 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Kennedy-Wilson by 156.2% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 320,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,113,000 after purchasing an additional 195,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Kennedy-Wilson during the second quarter worth approximately $1,721,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Kennedy-Wilson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KW traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.21. 475,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 984,043. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -5.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.10. Kennedy-Wilson has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $14.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.05.

Kennedy-Wilson (NYSE:KW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $132.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.66 million. Kennedy-Wilson had a negative return on equity of 13.90% and a negative net margin of 59.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kennedy-Wilson will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennedy-Wilson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Kennedy-Wilson’s payout ratio is currently -24.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Kennedy-Wilson from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kennedy-Wilson from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

About Kennedy-Wilson

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment company. The company owns, operates, and invests in real estate both on its own and through its investment management platform. It focuses on multifamily and office properties located in the Western United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Japan.