Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) Short Interest Update

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 29,910,000 shares, a drop of 14.0% from the March 15th total of 34,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days. Approximately 27.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Kohl’s Price Performance

KSS opened at $22.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.17. Kohl’s has a twelve month low of $17.68 and a twelve month high of $29.65.

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

Kohl’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 19th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. Kohl’s’s payout ratio is presently 70.18%.

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 KSS. Starboard Value LP bought a new stake in Kohl’s during the 1st quarter valued at $201,401,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Kohl’s by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,348,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $314,217,000 after buying an additional 2,695,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Kohl’s by 292.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,449,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,651,000 after buying an additional 1,825,313 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Kohl’s by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,013,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,580,000 after buying an additional 1,777,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kohl’s by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,591,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,127,000 after buying an additional 1,775,024 shares during the last quarter. 98.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kohl’s Company Profile

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.