KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $77.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $53.32, but opened at $51.31. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. KB Home shares last traded at $53.26, with a volume of 949,280 shares.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KBH. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on KB Home from $56.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on KB Home from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on KB Home from $81.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on KB Home from $76.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KB Home currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at KB Home

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.38, for a total transaction of $271,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,047.56. This trade represents a 32.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KB Home

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in KB Home by 11.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,252 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in KB Home by 112.4% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 59,131 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,288 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in KB Home by 73.7% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 608 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in KB Home by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,101,300 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $72,377,000 after acquiring an additional 75,206 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in KB Home by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 590 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. 96.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KB Home Trading Down 2.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.94 and its 200 day moving average is $59.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 5.83 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last released its earnings results on Monday, June 23rd. The construction company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.05. KB Home had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 14.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that KB Home will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.25%.

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.