JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 74,872 Shares of Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 661,711 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74,872 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Kontoor Brands were worth $54,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Kontoor Brands in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kontoor Brands by 242.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kontoor Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kontoor Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in Kontoor Brands during the third quarter worth about $48,000. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KTB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Kontoor Brands from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Kontoor Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Kontoor Brands from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kontoor Brands

In other Kontoor Brands news, EVP Thomas L. Doerr, Jr. sold 9,039 shares of Kontoor Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.71, for a total value of $729,537.69. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,179 shares in the company, valued at $1,467,227.09. The trade was a 33.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott H. Baxter sold 119,160 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Kontoor Brands Trading Up 1.7 %

KTB stock opened at $86.48 on Friday. Kontoor Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.95 and a 52 week high of $94.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.01. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Kontoor Brands Increases Dividend

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

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.