KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Short Interest Down 10.8% in October

KB Home (NYSE:KBH - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a drop of 10.8% from the October 15th total of 6,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days. Currently, 8.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of KB Home from a "sector perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of KB Home from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of 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 research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of KB Home from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KB Home has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.50.

KB Home Stock Performance

KBH stock remained flat at $78.53 during mid-day trading on Friday. 682,687 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,030,514. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.81. KB Home has a 12 month low of $51.53 and a 12 month high of $89.70. The company's fifty day moving average price is $82.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.19.

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

KB Home Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. KB Home's payout ratio is 12.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KB Home news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the 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 directly owns 34,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,737,156.20. This trade represents a 44.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of KB Home

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in KB Home by 1.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,317 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in KB Home by 65.2% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 34,917 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,475,000 after purchasing an additional 13,780 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in KB Home by 15,718.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 63,275 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,481,000 after purchasing an additional 62,875 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in KB Home by 139.3% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 11,162 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 6,497 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP raised its position in KB Home by 56.5% in the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 11,346 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 4,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.09% of the company's stock.

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.