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

Shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) 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 traded.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on KB Home from $81.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of KB Home from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of KB Home from $56.00 to $49.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of KB Home from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered KB Home from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KB Home presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.77.

Insider Transactions at KB Home

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 5,000 shares of KB Home stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.38, for a total value of $271,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,047.56. The trade was a 32.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.89% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KB Home

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in KB Home by 73.7% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of KB Home by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 540 shares of the construction company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in KB Home by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 590 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC boosted its position in KB Home by 3,142.9% during the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 681 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in KB Home during the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the company's stock.

KB Home Stock Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $52.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.79. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 6.01, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 23rd. The construction company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.05. KB Home had a net margin of 8.47% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. KB Home's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KB Home will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. KB Home's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.