Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS)

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors acquired 33,502 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 86% compared to the typical daily volume of 18,056 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on KSS shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Kohl’s from $32.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kohl’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kohl’s from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Kohl’s from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Kohl’s from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kohl’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 59.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kohl’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Kohl’s by 392.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kohl’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Kohl’s Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:KSS traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $21.84. 4,129,125 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,646,102. Kohl’s has a twelve month low of $17.68 and a twelve month high of $29.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.90.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 1.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Kohl’s will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kohl’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.65%.

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.