Finance of America Companies Inc. (NYSE:FOA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Finance of America Companies Inc. (NYSE:FOA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 629,200 shares, an increase of 63.9% from the December 15th total of 383,800 shares. Approximately 15.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 127,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, UBS Group lowered Finance of America Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Finance of America Companies Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Finance of America Companies stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 62,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 217,594. Finance of America Companies has a 52 week low of $4.10 and a 52 week high of $32.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.28. The company has a market capitalization of $265.63 million, a PE ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.07, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.80.

Finance of America Companies (NYSE:FOA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.54. Finance of America Companies had a net margin of 18.89% and a negative return on equity of 4.00%. The company had revenue of $290.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.40) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Finance of America Companies will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Norma Corio bought 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $110,123.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,613.80. The trade was a 35.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lance West sold 13,637 shares of Finance of America Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.71, for a total value of $282,422.27. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 56,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,277.73. This trade represents a 19.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,632 shares of company stock worth $937,887 in the last three months. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Finance of America Companies

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOA. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Finance of America Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Finance of America Companies by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 112,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Finance of America Companies during the second quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 97.20% of the company’s stock.

About Finance of America Companies

Finance of America Companies Inc a financial service holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of a retirement solutions platform in the United States. It operates through two segments: Retirement Solutions and Portfolio Management. The Retirement Solutions segment engages in the loan origination activities comprising home equity conversion, proprietary reverse, and hybrid mortgage loans for senior homeowners.