KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a decrease of 10.8% from the October 15th total of 6,460,000 shares. Currently, 8.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

KB Home Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE KBH traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $77.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,009,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,223,061. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.27. KB Home has a twelve month low of $51.53 and a twelve month high of $89.70.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 24th. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. KB Home had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 15.69%. KB Home’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.82%.

Insider Activity at KB Home

In other KB Home news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total value of $2,183,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,737,156.20. This represents a 44.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KB Home

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KBH. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of KB Home by 311.0% during the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 16,219 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,273 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in KB Home in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,078,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of KB Home in the first quarter valued at $1,177,000. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in KB Home by 123.0% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 75,154 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,327,000 after purchasing an additional 41,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in KB Home in the 1st quarter worth about $1,588,000. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KBH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of KB Home from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of KB Home from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of KB Home from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of KB Home from $78.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.50.

About KB Home

KB Home operates as a homebuilding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: West Coast, Southwest, Central, and Southeast. It builds and sells various homes, including attached and detached single-family residential homes, townhomes, and condominiums primarily for first-time, first move-up, second move-up, and active adult homebuyers.