Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) by 697.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,314 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,887 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in KBR were worth $1,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KBR. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 295.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 795 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 0.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 307,121 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,298,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 4.8% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,776 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 1,402.2% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. 97.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KBR Stock Performance

Shares of KBR opened at $45.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.74. KBR, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.89 and a 1 year high of $72.60.

KBR (NYSE:KBR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The construction company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. KBR had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 4.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that KBR, Inc. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KBR Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. KBR’s payout ratio is 22.07%.

Insider Transactions at KBR

In other KBR news, CEO Stuart Bradie sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.81, for a total value of $1,056,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 802,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,372,684.41. This represents a 2.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KBR. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of KBR from $77.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered KBR from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group lowered KBR from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered KBR from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered KBR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.14.

KBR Profile

KBR, Inc provides scientific, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and commercial customers worldwide. It operates through Government Solutions and Sustainable Technology Solutions segments. The Government Solutions segment offers life-cycle support solutions to defense, intelligence, space, aviation, and other programs and missions for military and other government agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.