Short Interest in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Decreases By 10.8%

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a decrease of 10.8% from the October 15th total of 6,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.2 days. Approximately 8.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at KB Home

In other KB Home news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total value of $2,183,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,737,156.20. This represents a 44.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KB Home

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in KB Home during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. acquired a new position in KB Home during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in KB Home during the third quarter valued at $61,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in KB Home by 72.0% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,080 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its position in KB Home by 625.3% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KBH has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of KB Home from $78.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of KB Home from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of KB Home from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of KB Home from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.50.

KB Home Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KBH remained flat at $78.53 on Friday. 682,687 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,030,514. KB Home has a 1-year low of $51.53 and a 1-year high of $89.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $82.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.19. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.81.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The construction company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.02). KB Home had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 9.31%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. KB Home’s payout ratio is currently 12.82%.

KB Home Company 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.