Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 755,297 KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 755,297 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,638,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KBH. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in KB Home by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,815 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KB Home by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 590 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of KB Home by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,465 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of KB Home by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 880 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in KB Home by 65.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 540 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

KB Home Stock Performance

Shares of KB Home stock opened at $57.61 on Friday. KB Home has a 52 week low of $54.02 and a 52 week high of $89.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 5.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.80, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.59.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The construction company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.07). KB Home had a return on equity of 16.46% and a net margin of 9.45%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. KB Home’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KB Home will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KBH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on KB Home from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target (down previously from $93.00) on shares of KB Home in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of KB Home from $82.00 to $74.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of KB Home from $76.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.21.

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.