Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Baird R W

Baird R W downgraded shares of Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Kohl’s from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Kohl’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $18.00 in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Kohl’s from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on Kohl’s from $23.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kohl’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.22.

Kohl’s Stock Performance

Shares of KSS opened at $14.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Kohl’s has a 12 month low of $14.22 and a 12 month high of $29.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.78 and its 200-day moving average is $20.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.94.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.08). Kohl’s had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 1.66%. The business had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Kohl’s will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kohl’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.43%.

Insider Activity at Kohl’s

In other Kohl’s news, EVP Feeney Siobhan Mc sold 16,367 shares of Kohl’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.27, for a total transaction of $315,392.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 136,799 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,116.73. The trade was a 10.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kohl’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Kohl’s by 25.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 45,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $872,000 after acquiring an additional 9,196 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Kohl’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,826,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,541,000 after purchasing an additional 91,608 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Kohl’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,694,000. Finally, Whitebox Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Kohl’s by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whitebox Advisors LLC now owns 62,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. 98.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Kohl’s

Kohl’s Corporation operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States. It offers branded apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty, and home products through its stores and website. The company provides its products primarily under the brand names of Croft & Barrow, Jumping Beans, SO, Sonoma Goods for Life, and Tek Gear, as well as Food Network, LC Lauren Conrad, Nine West, and Simply Vera Vera Wang.