KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,440,000 shares, an increase of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 2,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KBR shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of KBR from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of KBR from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of KBR in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of KBR from $72.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of KBR from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.88.

Insider Transactions at KBR

In other news, insider Gregory Sean Conlon sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total transaction of $961,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,214,134.47. This represents a 23.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KBR

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in KBR during the fourth quarter worth $47,022,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in KBR during the fourth quarter worth $1,131,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in KBR during the third quarter worth $771,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in KBR by 14.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,416,531 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $167,876,000 after purchasing an additional 305,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in KBR by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,021 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.02% of the company’s stock.

KBR Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:KBR traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $50.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,108,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,363. KBR has a 1-year low of $47.16 and a 1-year high of $72.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.93.

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

KBR Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is an increase from KBR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. KBR’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.57%.

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.