KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.88.

KBR has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on KBR from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on KBR from $72.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reduced their price target on KBR from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of KBR in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on KBR from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

KBR Stock Performance

Shares of KBR stock opened at $49.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $54.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.11. KBR has a fifty-two week low of $47.16 and a fifty-two week high of $72.60.

KBR (NYSE:KBR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The construction company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. KBR had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 4.35%. Analysts expect that KBR will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

KBR Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from KBR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. KBR’s payout ratio is currently 23.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KBR. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of KBR by 12,326.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,242,416 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $188,098,000 after acquiring an additional 3,216,323 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of KBR during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,033,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of KBR by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,805,163 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $162,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307,033 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of KBR by 240.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,653,299 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $95,776,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167,282 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of KBR by 444.8% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,247,506 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $72,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,539 shares during the period. 97.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.