Investors Buy High Volume of Kohl’s Put Options (NYSE:KSS)

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 23,743 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 73% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,721 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Kohl’s from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its position in Kohl’s by 59.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Kohl’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 49,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Kohl’s by 32.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Kohl’s by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kohl’s by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Kohl’s Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE KSS opened at $24.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.31. Kohl’s has a 52-week low of $17.68 and a 52-week high of $29.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 1.31.

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

Kohl’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.04%. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.18%.

About Kohl’s

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.