Empowered Funds LLC Sells 29,149 Shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Empowered Funds LLC lessened its position in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 187,496 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 29,149 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in KB Home were worth $12,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of KB Home by 275.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 759 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on KBH. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down previously from $93.00) on shares of KB Home in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of KB Home from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of KB Home from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of KB Home from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of KB Home from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.21.

KB Home Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE KBH opened at $63.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.86. KB Home has a 12-month low of $59.75 and a 12-month high of $89.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 5.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 13th. The construction company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.08. KB Home had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 16.46%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KB Home will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. KB Home’s payout ratio is 11.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.44% of the company’s stock.

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.