Hancock Whitney Corp Lowers Stake in KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Hancock Whitney Corp cut its stake in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,684 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,524 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in KB Home were worth $1,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KB Home by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,815 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in KB Home by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 590 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in KB Home by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,465 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of KB Home by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 880 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of KB Home by 65.6% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 540 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. 96.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KB Home Stock Down 1.1 %

KBH opened at $53.69 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.34, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.65. KB Home has a fifty-two week low of $48.90 and a fifty-two week high of $89.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 5.51.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The construction company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. KB Home had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 16.46%. KB Home’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that KB Home will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KB Home Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.20%.

Insider Activity at KB Home

In other news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of KB Home stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.77, for a total value of $1,891,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,370,708.21. This trade represents a 44.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KBH. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price (down previously from $93.00) on shares of KB Home in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on KB Home from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seaport Res Ptn raised KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of KB Home in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on KB Home from $76.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.04.

KB Home Profile

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.