KB Home (NYSE:KBH) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $60.92, but opened at $62.82. KB Home shares last traded at $61.62, with a volume of 171,889 shares.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from KB Home’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 8th. KB Home’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KBH shares. Wedbush upped their price objective on KB Home from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on KB Home from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price target on KB Home from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on KB Home from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on KB Home from $68.50 to $70.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KB Home currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.11.

KB Home Stock Up 1.0 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.52. The stock has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.73.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The construction company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. KB Home had a return on equity of 15.78% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that KB Home will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at KB Home

In other news, CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger sold 165,307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.40, for a total transaction of $9,819,235.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,491,298 shares in the company, valued at $88,583,101.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey T. Mezger sold 165,307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.40, for a total transaction of $9,819,235.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,491,298 shares in the company, valued at $88,583,101.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian J. Woram sold 83,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $5,040,454.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 156,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,449,883.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 412,021 shares of company stock worth $24,954,977. Company insiders own 4.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KB Home

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KBH. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in KB Home by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 109,019 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,530,000 after acquiring an additional 18,818 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in KB Home by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in KB Home by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 96,105 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,112,000 after acquiring an additional 27,327 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in KB Home by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,411 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 2,995 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in KB Home by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 47,231 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 3,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.09% 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.