Short Interest in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Expands By 9.5%

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) saw a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,310,000 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the October 31st total of 5,760,000 shares. Approximately 8.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.8 days.

Insider Transactions at KB Home

In other news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total transaction of $2,183,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,737,156.20. This trade represents a 44.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in KB Home by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,494 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in KB Home by 0.9% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 18,578 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of KB Home by 10.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of KB Home by 3.9% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 5,029 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KB Home by 1.2% in the third quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,891 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,619,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of KB Home from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut KB Home from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush lifted their price target on KB Home from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on KB Home from $78.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.50.

KB Home Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of KBH opened at $82.74 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.16. KB Home has a 1-year low of $53.54 and a 1-year high of $89.70. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.81.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.02). KB Home had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. KB Home’s payout ratio is 12.82%.

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.