Short Interest in HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) Rises By 9.7%

HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,290,000 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the January 15th total of 13,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HDFC Bank

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HDB. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in HDFC Bank in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of HDFC Bank by 104.1% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of HDFC Bank during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in HDFC Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in HDFC Bank by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 617 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 17.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HDB shares. Nomura raised shares of HDFC Bank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nomura Securities raised shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of HDFC Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th.

HDFC Bank Trading Up 0.2 %

HDB stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.29. 2,209,389 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,622,650. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. HDFC Bank has a 52-week low of $53.00 and a 52-week high of $68.50. The company has a market cap of $152.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.08 and its 200-day moving average is $62.40.

HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.08. HDFC Bank had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HDFC Bank will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

HDFC Bank Company Profile

HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits.