Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 11,177 Shares of KB Home $KBH

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 153,266 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 11,177 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in KB Home were worth $9,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of KB Home by 204.8% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 69,078 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after buying an additional 46,415 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in KB Home in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,551,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KB Home during the third quarter worth about $59,301,000. Strs Ohio boosted its position in KB Home by 1,788.1% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 79,300 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,047,000 after acquiring an additional 75,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in KB Home during the second quarter worth $240,000. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on KBH. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on KB Home from $59.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on KB Home from $71.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of KB Home from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial downgraded KB Home from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of KB Home from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.73.

KB Home Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE KBH opened at $63.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 5.77 and a quick ratio of 0.53. KB Home has a 1 year low of $48.90 and a 1 year high of $68.71. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.48.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The construction company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.13. KB Home had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 6.88%.The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. KB Home’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 5th. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

About KB Home

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.