KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on KBH. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on KB Home from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on KB Home from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on KB Home from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on KB Home from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on KB Home from $68.50 to $70.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $66.11.

KB Home Trading Down 4.9 %

KB Home stock traded down $3.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $63.75. 1,238,912 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,184,623. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.53 and a 200 day moving average of $57.77. KB Home has a 12 month low of $38.65 and a 12 month high of $72.00.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The construction company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.46 billion. KB Home had a return on equity of 15.78% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. KB Home's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KB Home news, EVP Brian J. Woram sold 83,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $5,040,454.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 156,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,449,883.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other KB Home news, EVP Brian J. Woram sold 83,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $5,040,454.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 156,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,449,883.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger sold 59,157 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.34, for a total value of $3,569,533.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,491,298 shares of the company's stock, valued at $89,984,921.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 373,635 shares of company stock worth $22,400,005 over the last three months. 3.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of KB Home

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in KB Home by 32.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,251,656 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $57,927,000 after acquiring an additional 305,820 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in KB Home by 7.1% in the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 181,169 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $8,385,000 after acquiring an additional 12,048 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in KB Home in the fourth quarter valued at about $416,000. Advisors Preferred LLC boosted its holdings in KB Home by 188.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC now owns 50,820 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,331,000 after acquiring an additional 33,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in KB Home by 36.6% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 15,619 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 4,188 shares during the last quarter. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.