LPL Financial LLC Acquires 3,131 Shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,754 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,131 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in KB Home were worth $2,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in KB Home by 275.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in KB Home by 29.6% during 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 period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in KB Home during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $59,000. 96.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on KBH. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of KB Home from $81.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of KB Home in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays cut their target price on KB Home from $60.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded KB Home from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Three equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, KB Home currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.77, for a total transaction of $1,891,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,370,708.21. This represents a 44.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KB Home Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KBH opened at $51.02 on Tuesday. KB Home has a twelve month low of $48.90 and a twelve month high of $89.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.04 and its 200-day moving average is $69.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 5.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.65.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The construction company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. KB Home had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 16.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. KB Home’s payout ratio is 12.20%.

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.