First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 61.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,327,809 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 503,895 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in KB Home were worth $87,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KBH. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in KB Home by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 540 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in KB Home by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 590 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in KB Home in the third quarter worth approximately $59,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in KB Home by 275.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 759 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of KB Home by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 880 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on KBH. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of KB Home in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of KB Home from $67.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on KB Home from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at KB Home

In related news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of KB Home stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.77, for a total value of $1,891,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,370,708.21. This trade represents a 44.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KB Home Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KBH opened at $51.18 on Tuesday. KB Home has a 12 month low of $48.90 and a 12 month high of $89.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 5.51 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The construction company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. KB Home had a return on equity of 16.46% and a net margin of 9.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.20%.

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.