Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 87,277 Shares of KB Home (NYSE:KBH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in KB Home (NYSE:KBH) by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,666 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 87,277 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of KB Home worth $17,795,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KBH. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in KB Home by 1.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of KB Home in the first quarter worth $640,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in shares of 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 worth $2,475,000 after buying an additional 13,780 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in KB Home by 15,718.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 63,275 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,481,000 after buying an additional 62,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in KB Home by 139.3% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 11,162 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 6,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the company’s stock.

KB Home Stock Performance

Shares of KBH stock opened at $78.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.81. KB Home has a fifty-two week low of $51.53 and a fifty-two week high of $89.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.01.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. KB Home had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that KB Home will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current year.

KB Home Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jeff Kaminski sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total value of $2,183,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,737,156.20. This trade represents a 44.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on KB Home from $78.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of KB Home from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of KB Home from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush increased their target price on KB Home from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.50.

KB Home 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.