Finance of America Companies Inc. (NYSE:FOA) Short Interest Up 159.7% in December

Finance of America Companies Inc. (NYSE:FOA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 383,800 shares, an increase of 159.7% from the November 30th total of 147,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 92,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 9.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Finance of America Companies news, Director Norma Corio acquired 4,300 shares of Finance of America Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $110,123.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,613.80. This represents a 35.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lance West sold 13,637 shares of Finance of America Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.71, for a total value of $282,422.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 43,632 shares of company stock valued at $937,887. Company insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Finance of America Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FOA. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Finance of America Companies by 2.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 112,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Finance of America Companies during the second quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Finance of America Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. 97.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Finance of America Companies Price Performance

FOA opened at $27.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $268.20 million, a PE ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.10. Finance of America Companies has a 1 year low of $4.10 and a 1 year high of $29.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 40.07, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 2.80.

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

Finance of America Companies Company Profile

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.