Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Kohl’s Put Options (NYSE:KSS)

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 23,743 put options on the company. This is an increase of 73% compared to the average volume of 13,721 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kohl’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Kohl’s from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kohl’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Kohl’s by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,591,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,775,024 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Kohl’s by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,800,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,375,000 after buying an additional 366,660 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Kohl’s by 0.3% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,397,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,178,000 after buying an additional 12,913 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Kohl’s by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 3,340,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,813,000 after buying an additional 199,618 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Kohl’s by 38.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,686,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,343,000 after buying an additional 468,602 shares during the period. 98.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kohl’s Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE KSS opened at $25.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.98. Kohl’s has a one year low of $17.68 and a one year high of $29.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.24 and its 200-day moving average is $25.31.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.39. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 1.81%. The business had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.49) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Kohl’s will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Kohl’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 20th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 19th. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.18%.

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.