KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,850,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the April 15th total of 5,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days. Currently, 8.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on KBH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of KB Home from $68.50 to $70.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on KB Home from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on KB Home from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of KB Home from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on KB Home from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.30.

KB Home Stock Performance

KB Home stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.05. 1,494,642 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,215,865. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.93. The company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.74. KB Home has a 52-week low of $42.11 and a 52-week high of $74.65.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The construction company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for 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%. KB Home's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KB Home will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

KB Home Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from KB Home's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. KB Home's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 38,386 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.56, for a total transaction of $2,554,972.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,294,522.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KB Home news, EVP Albert Z. Praw sold 22,160 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total transaction of $1,553,637.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,512 shares in the company, valued at $9,500,746.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 38,386 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.56, for a total transaction of $2,554,972.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,522.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 64,460 shares of company stock valued at $4,384,468 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.44% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KB Home

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of KB Home by 433.0% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 485 shares of the construction company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of KB Home during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of KB Home during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KB Home in the 1st quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in KB Home during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the company's stock.

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.