KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

KB Home (NYSE:KBH)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $64.08, but opened at $71.63. KB Home shares last traded at $67.80, with a volume of 1,366,372 shares trading hands.

The construction company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.08. KB Home had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KBH shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of KB Home from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of KB Home from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of KB Home from $74.00 to $65.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays lowered shares of KB Home from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of KB Home from $80.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KB Home

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KBH. Bank of New Hampshire grew its position in KB Home by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 33,343 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,191,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in KB Home by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 152,056 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $10,059,000 after purchasing an additional 6,195 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in KB Home by 275.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in KB Home by 12.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,715 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castellan Group grew its position in KB Home by 0.8% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 75,585 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,477,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KB Home Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.86. The business’s 50-day moving average is $73.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.01.

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.