Royce & Associates LP Sells 8,926 Shares of KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR)

Royce & Associates LP reduced its holdings in KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 643,539 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 8,926 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in KBR were worth $41,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KBR. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in KBR by 359.9% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,467,650 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $93,431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148,503 shares in the last quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of KBR during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,274,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 29.4% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 2,286,779 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $146,674,000 after acquiring an additional 520,207 shares in the last quarter. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 37.1% during the second quarter. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP now owns 1,877,497 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $120,423,000 after acquiring an additional 507,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of KBR by 913.1% during the second quarter. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP now owns 298,956 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,175,000 after acquiring an additional 269,448 shares in the last quarter. 97.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KBR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on KBR from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen cut KBR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on KBR from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut KBR from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 6th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on KBR from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.14.

KBR Stock Down 14.0 %

KBR stock opened at $60.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. KBR, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.45 and a 1-year high of $72.60. The stock has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.89.

KBR (NYSE:KBR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.84. KBR had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 4.35%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that KBR, Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

KBR Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. KBR’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jalal Ibrahim sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.56, for a total transaction of $2,329,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,091,968. The trade was a 24.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

About KBR

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.