Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 23,689 Shares of KB Home $KBH

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 2,016.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,864 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,689 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in KB Home were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in KB Home in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $111,050,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the fourth quarter worth $48,418,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of KB Home by 387.8% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 725,394 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,919,000 after acquiring an additional 576,694 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KB Home by 102.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 932,178 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $52,584,000 after acquiring an additional 471,598 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of KB Home by 519.2% during the fourth quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 353,739 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,954,000 after acquiring an additional 296,615 shares during the period. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KB Home Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KBH opened at $56.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $54.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.71. KB Home has a 52 week low of $44.03 and a 52 week high of $68.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.34.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 23rd. The construction company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.01). KB Home had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 4.94%.The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that KB Home will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

KB Home Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on KBH. UBS Group boosted their price objective on KB Home from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of KB Home from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of KB Home from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $77.00 price target on shares of KB Home in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of KB Home from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.17.

KB Home Company Profile

KB Home is an American homebuilding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1957, it was among the first homebuilders to go public, offering investors access to one of the nation’s largest residential construction platforms. The company is structured to serve a broad spectrum of homebuyers, with a particular focus on first-time, first move-up and active adult segments. As a public company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KBH, KB Home draws on decades of experience in land acquisition, construction and community planning.

At its core, KB Home designs and constructs single-family detached and attached homes, townhomes and condominium units.