Short Interest in KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE) Expands By 27.6%

KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,070,000 shares, an increase of 27.6% from the March 31st total of 15,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of KE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BEKE. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KE by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in KE by 90.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its holdings in shares of KE by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 392,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of KE by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 38,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its holdings in shares of KE by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 12,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,000 after buying an additional 2,585 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEKE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $21.10 price objective on shares of KE in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. HSBC decreased their price objective on KE from $23.90 to $21.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

KE Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BEKE opened at $15.35 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.75 and a 200 day moving average of $14.54. The stock has a market cap of $18.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of -0.73. KE has a 12 month low of $12.44 and a 12 month high of $19.95.

KE (NYSE:BEKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. KE had a net margin of 7.62% and a return on equity of 9.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that KE will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.351 per share. This represents a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. KE’s payout ratio is 43.48%.

KE Company Profile

KE Holdings Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in operating an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services in the People's Republic of China. It operates through four segments: Existing Home Transaction Services, New Home Transaction Services, Home Renovation and Furnishing, and Emerging and Other Services.