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

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) shares gapped up before the market opened 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 traded.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of KB Home from $85.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of KB Home from $80.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on KB Home from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on KB Home from $92.50 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised KB Home from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KBH. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in KB Home by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,411,255 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $463,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,498 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of KB Home by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,539,328 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $303,285,000 after purchasing an additional 45,311 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 73,051 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KB Home by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,938,359 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $166,125,000 after buying an additional 16,593 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in KB Home in the 3rd quarter valued at $89,899,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

KB Home Trading Up 5.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.56 and its 200 day moving average is $77.99.

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.