Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

Several research firms have recently commented on KTB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Kontoor Brands from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut Kontoor Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim raised their target price on Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Kontoor Brands from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Kontoor Brands Price Performance

NYSE KTB opened at $86.20 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.22. Kontoor Brands has a 1 year low of $52.95 and a 1 year high of $94.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.20.

Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $670.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $663.45 million. Kontoor Brands had a return on equity of 73.99% and a net margin of 9.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kontoor Brands will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Kontoor Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This is a boost from Kontoor Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Kontoor Brands’s payout ratio is 46.85%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas L. Doerr, Jr. sold 9,039 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.71, for a total transaction of $729,537.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,179 shares in the company, valued at $1,467,227.09. This represents a 33.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott H. Baxter sold 119,160 shares of Kontoor Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.60, for a total value of $9,961,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 331,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,748,177.60. The trade was a 26.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands during the third quarter worth $220,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kontoor Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $332,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Kontoor Brands by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,409,000 after purchasing an additional 15,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 316.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 101,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,303,000 after purchasing an additional 77,137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Kontoor Brands Company Profile

Kontoor Brands, Inc, a lifestyle apparel company, designs, produces, procures, markets, distributes, and licenses denim, apparel, footwear, and accessories, primarily under the Wrangler and Lee brands. The company operates through two segments: Wrangler and Lee. It licenses and sells apparel under the Rock & Republic brand name.