Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) Short Interest Up 7.4% in April

Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,660,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the April 15th total of 4,340,000 shares. Approximately 8.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 659,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kontoor Brands

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KTB. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 5,710.0% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its position in Kontoor Brands by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 781 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Kontoor Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $81,000. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KTB. UBS Group upped their price target on Kontoor Brands from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Kontoor Brands from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Edward Jones lowered shares of Kontoor Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Kontoor Brands from $65.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.20.

Kontoor Brands Stock Performance

NYSE KTB opened at $70.18 on Friday. Kontoor Brands has a twelve month low of $37.10 and a twelve month high of $70.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.67.

Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $631.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.91 million. Kontoor Brands had a return on equity of 71.45% and a net margin of 8.72%. The company’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kontoor Brands will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kontoor Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Kontoor Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

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.