Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) Short Interest Up 842.1% in December

Guild Holdings (NYSE:GHLD) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,900 shares, a growth of 842.1% from the December 15th total of 1,900 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 12,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Guild Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Guild stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $12.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,673. Guild has a 12 month low of $11.21 and a 12 month high of $18.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $768.62 million, a PE ratio of -8.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.80 and a 200 day moving average of $14.86.

Institutional Trading of Guild

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GHLD. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Guild by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Guild during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,497,000. Castleview Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Guild during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $79,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Guild by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 269,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,488,000 after acquiring an additional 13,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in Guild by 11.9% during the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 653,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,875,000 after acquiring an additional 69,603 shares in the last quarter. 17.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Guild in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Guild from $14.50 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Guild from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Guild currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.50.

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.