Kohl’s Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:KSS)

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 42,614 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 26% compared to the typical daily volume of 33,829 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kohl’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KSS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kohl’s in the 4th quarter worth $8,185,000. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Kohl’s by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 253,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,554,000 after purchasing an additional 91,590 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kohl’s by 155.1% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 943,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,246,000 after buying an additional 573,579 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 105,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 42,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kohl’s by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,771,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,873,000 after purchasing an additional 55,540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Kohl’s Price Performance

NYSE:KSS traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $7.06. 16,494,215 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,372,951. Kohl’s has a 1 year low of $6.04 and a 1 year high of $28.25. The company has a market cap of $785.95 million, a PE ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.51.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.23. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 1.47%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. Kohl’s’s revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Kohl’s will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Kohl’s Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.08%. Kohl’s’s payout ratio is 51.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on KSS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kohl’s from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Kohl’s from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Kohl’s from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Kohl’s from $10.00 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Kohl’s in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.71.

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.