Analysts Set Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) Target Price at $95.00

Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on KTB shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Kontoor Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Kontoor Brands Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:KTB opened at $92.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $83.17 and its 200 day moving average is $74.72. Kontoor Brands has a 12 month low of $52.82 and a 12 month high of $94.41.

Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $670.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $663.45 million. Kontoor Brands had a net margin of 9.72% and a return on equity of 73.99%. Kontoor Brands’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Kontoor Brands will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Kontoor Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change 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 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Kontoor Brands’s payout ratio is 45.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott H. Baxter sold 119,160 shares of Kontoor Brands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.60, for a total transaction of $9,961,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,748,177.60. The trade was a 26.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas L. Doerr, Jr. sold 9,039 shares of Kontoor Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.71, for a total transaction of $729,537.69. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,467,227.09. This represents a 33.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kontoor Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KTB. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 1.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 5.0% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 3.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 0.8% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Kontoor Brands by 2.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.