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

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 54,428 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 67% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,602 call options.

Institutional Trading of Kohl’s

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 59,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Kohl’s by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 17,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 49.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platinum Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Kohl’s by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KSS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Kohl’s from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Kohl’s from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on Kohl’s in a research report on Monday, April 28th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $4.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on Kohl’s from $15.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Kohl’s from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kohl’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.61.

Kohl’s Price Performance

Shares of KSS traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $8.10. 7,070,776 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,811,224. The company has a market capitalization of $901.17 million, a PE ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.35. Kohl’s has a one year low of $6.04 and a one year high of $27.59.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.25 billion. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 1.47%. Kohl’s’s revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kohl’s will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Kohl’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. Kohl’s’s payout ratio is 51.02%.

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.