KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $64.08, but opened at $71.63. KB Home shares last traded at $67.80, with a volume of 1,366,372 shares changing hands.

The construction company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. KB Home had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 9.31%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.85 earnings per share.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KBH has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of KB Home from $74.00 to $65.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on KB Home from $92.50 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on KB Home from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded KB Home from an "underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of KB Home from $80.00 to $76.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.50.

Institutional Trading of KB Home

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of KB Home by 47.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,411,255 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $463,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,498 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in KB Home during the 3rd quarter valued at $89,899,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of KB Home by 22.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 906,236 shares of the construction company's stock worth $77,655,000 after acquiring an additional 164,010 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of KB Home by 201.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 216,645 shares of the construction company's stock worth $18,564,000 after acquiring an additional 144,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KB Home by 3.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,206,172 shares of the construction company's stock worth $189,047,000 after acquiring an additional 73,051 shares during the period. 96.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KB Home Stock Up 5.1 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $73.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.86.

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.