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

Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 52,133 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 127% compared to the average volume of 22,953 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KSS has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Kohl’s from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Kohl’s from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $19.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered Kohl’s to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Kohl’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kohl’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kohl’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.67.

Kohl’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KSS opened at $18.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.04. Kohl’s has a twelve month low of $17.68 and a twelve month high of $29.60. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.55, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.13. Kohl’s had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 1.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Kohl’s will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Kohl’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.68%. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.65%.

Institutional Trading of Kohl’s

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KSS. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kohl’s by 6,076.8% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 1,834,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,175,000 after buying an additional 1,804,809 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kohl’s by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,591,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,127,000 after buying an additional 1,775,024 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kohl’s by 348.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,180,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,118,000 after buying an additional 1,694,162 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kohl’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,583,000. Finally, Vision One Management Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Kohl’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,413,000. Institutional investors own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

About Kohl’s

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.