Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) Short Interest Up 15.9% in February

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 54,430,000 shares, an increase of 15.9% from the February 13th total of 46,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days. Currently, 50.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on KSS shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Kohl’s from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Baird R W lowered Kohl’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Gordon Haskett lowered Kohl’s from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kohl’s from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Kohl’s from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.10.

Insider Activity at Kohl’s

In related news, EVP Feeney Siobhan Mc sold 3,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.05, for a total value of $53,769.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 133,091 shares in the company, valued at $1,869,928.55. This represents a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kohl’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KSS. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 226.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 137,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,902,000 after acquiring an additional 95,398 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kohl’s in the 3rd quarter worth $60,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 504,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,654,000 after acquiring an additional 31,028 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 149.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,572,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,671,000 after acquiring an additional 9,925,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,716,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,208,000 after acquiring an additional 101,480 shares during the last quarter. 98.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kohl’s Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE KSS opened at $8.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $11.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.50. Kohl’s has a one year low of $7.96 and a one year high of $29.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $951.21 million, a P/E ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.92.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.23. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 1.47%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Kohl’s will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kohl’s Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.02%.

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.