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

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,850,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the April 15th total of 5,520,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at KB Home

In related news, Director Thomas W. Gilligan sold 3,914 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.48, for a total value of $275,858.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 48,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,398,334.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas W. Gilligan sold 3,914 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.48, for a total transaction of $275,858.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 48,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,398,334.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 38,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.56, for a total transaction of $2,554,972.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,522.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,460 shares of company stock valued at $4,384,468. Corporate insiders own 4.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KB Home

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of KB Home by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,317 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KB Home by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,355 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC raised its stake in KB Home by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 57,114 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in KB Home by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 11,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $782,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of KB Home by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 930 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on KBH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on KB Home from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on KB Home from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Zelman & Associates restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of KB Home in a report on Monday, May 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of KB Home from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of KB Home from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KB Home currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.30.

KB Home Stock Up 0.4 %

KBH stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,494,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,215,865. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.74. KB Home has a 52-week low of $42.11 and a 52-week high of $74.65.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The construction company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.19. KB Home had a return on equity of 15.78% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KB Home will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. This is an increase from KB Home’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. KB Home’s payout ratio is currently 13.61%.

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.