Short Interest in Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) Expands By 9.7%

Posted by MarketBeat News on Mar 15th, 2023

Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB – Get Rating) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,280,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the February 13th total of 3,900,000 shares. Approximately 7.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 460,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kontoor Brands news, COO Thomas E. Waldron sold 31,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.93, for a total transaction of $1,622,137.41. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 101,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,262,949.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kontoor Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 360.4% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 686 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 867 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands during the second quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 146.1% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,144 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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A number of equities research analysts have commented on KTB shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Kontoor Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Williams Trading raised shares of Kontoor Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kontoor Brands from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.25.

Kontoor Brands Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:KTB opened at $50.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Kontoor Brands has a 1-year low of $30.98 and a 1-year high of $53.83.

Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $731.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.78 million. Kontoor Brands had a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 124.39%. Kontoor Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kontoor Brands will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Kontoor Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. Kontoor Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.65%.

Kontoor Brands Company Profile

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Kontoor Brands, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, sourcing, marketing, and distribution of a portfolio of brands. It operates through the Wrangler and Lee segment. The company was founded on November 18, 2018 and is headquartered in Greensboro, NC.