Aristotle Capital Boston LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Aristotle Capital Boston LLC lessened its holdings in shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 456,395 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 49,875 shares during the period. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC’s holdings in KB Home were worth $29,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KBH. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of KB Home by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,627 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in KB Home by 120.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 66,315 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,358,000 after acquiring an additional 36,234 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in KB Home during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in KB Home in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $305,000. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its position in KB Home by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 74,145 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,873,000 after purchasing an additional 4,513 shares in the last quarter. 96.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of KB Home in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on KB Home from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on KB Home from $76.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on KB Home from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.04.

KB Home Price Performance

Shares of KB Home stock opened at $54.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 5.51 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.65. KB Home has a 12 month low of $48.90 and a 12 month high of $89.70.

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

KB Home Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. KB Home’s payout ratio is presently 12.20%.

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.