KT (NYSE:KT) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of KT (NYSE:KT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded KT from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

KT Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of KT opened at $19.78 on Monday. KT has a fifty-two week low of $14.77 and a fifty-two week high of $21.61. The company has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.13 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

KT (NYSE:KT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 5th. The technology company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter. KT had a return on equity of 5.06% and a net margin of 3.35%. As a group, analysts forecast that KT will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

KT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th were issued a $0.2164 dividend. This represents a $0.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 30th. KT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.59%.

Institutional Trading of KT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KT. Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in KT by 66.7% in the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 2,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KT by 174.8% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of KT by 143.2% in the 1st quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KT by 506.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,504 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in KT by 1,901.0% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,122 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 3,916 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.86% of the company’s stock.

KT Company Profile

KT Corporation provides integrated telecommunications and platform services in Korea and internationally. The company offers mobile voice and data telecommunications services based on 5G, 4G LTE and 3G W-CDMA technology; fixed-line telephone services, including local, domestic long-distance, international long-distance, and voice over Internet protocol telephone services, as well as interconnection services; broadband Internet access service and other Internet-related services; and data communication services, such as fixed-line and leased line services, as well as broadband Internet connection services.