Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,500 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,343,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in KB Home by 40.9% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 930 shares of the construction company's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in KB Home during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. CI Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in KB Home during the third quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Kendall Capital Management acquired a new stake in KB Home during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KB Home in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $196,000. 96.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger sold 165,307 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.40, for a total value of $9,819,235.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,491,298 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $88,583,101.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger sold 165,307 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.40, for a total transaction of $9,819,235.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,491,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,583,101.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brian J. Woram sold 83,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 156,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,449,883.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,021 shares of company stock valued at $24,954,977. Company insiders own 3.52% of the company's stock.

KB Home Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of KBH stock traded up $1.63 on Monday, hitting $62.66. The stock had a trading volume of 1,236,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,037. KB Home has a twelve month low of $40.97 and a twelve month high of $72.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.85.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The construction company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.19. KB Home had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 15.78%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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. Investors of record on Thursday, May 9th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This is a positive change from KB Home's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. KB Home's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on KB Home from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded KB Home from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wedbush boosted their target price on KB Home from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of KB Home from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of KB Home from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KB Home currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.11.

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.