KBR (NYSE:KBR) Reaches New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $64.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. KBR traded as low as $47.55 and last traded at $50.26, with a volume of 6210495 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.14.

A number of other research firms have also commented on KBR. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of KBR in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on KBR from $72.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on KBR from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of KBR from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KBR from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KBR

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KBR. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in KBR by 25.9% in the third quarter. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC now owns 50,710 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,303,000 after buying an additional 10,420 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in KBR in the 4th quarter worth about $47,022,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in KBR in the third quarter valued at about $771,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KBR by 14.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,416,531 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $167,876,000 after purchasing an additional 305,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of KBR by 56.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,021 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the period. 97.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KBR Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.67 and its 200-day moving average is $61.60.

KBR (NYSE:KBR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The construction company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. KBR had a net margin of 4.35% and a return on equity of 28.87%. Analysts predict that KBR, Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

KBR Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This is a positive change from KBR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. KBR’s payout ratio is currently 23.57%.

KBR Company 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.