Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 58,057 Shares of Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kohl’s Co. (NYSE:KSS) by 128.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 103,236 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,057 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Kohl’s were worth $1,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Kohl’s by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Kohl’s by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 59,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its stake in Kohl’s by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 14,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Kohl’s by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 218,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,072,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, Summit X LLC boosted its position in Kohl’s by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 28,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Kohl’s from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Kohl’s from $15.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Kohl’s from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Kohl’s from $10.00 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Kohl’s in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kohl’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.71.

Kohl’s Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:KSS opened at $6.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.12. Kohl’s Co. has a 1 year low of $6.04 and a 1 year high of $28.25. The company has a market cap of $723.61 million, a P/E ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.90.

Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.23. Kohl’s had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 6.44%. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Kohl’s Co. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Kohl’s Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.69%. Kohl’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.02%.

Kohl’s Company Profile

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.