Versor Investments LP Purchases 9,312 Shares of Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB)

Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB - Free Report) by 112.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,624 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,312 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP's holdings in Kontoor Brands were worth $1,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kontoor Brands by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,043,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,187,000 after purchasing an additional 201,399 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Kontoor Brands by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,270,540 shares of the company's stock worth $84,046,000 after acquiring an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Kontoor Brands by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,250,293 shares of the company's stock worth $82,707,000 after acquiring an additional 60,926 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Kontoor Brands by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 712,579 shares of the company's stock worth $47,137,000 after acquiring an additional 7,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Kontoor Brands by 351.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 347,325 shares of the company's stock worth $22,976,000 after acquiring an additional 270,427 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kontoor Brands news, EVP Thomas L. Doerr, Jr. sold 9,039 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.71, for a total transaction of $729,537.69. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,467,227.09. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thomas L. Doerr, Jr. sold 9,039 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.71, for a total value of $729,537.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,467,227.09. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott H. Baxter sold 119,160 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.60, for a total value of $9,961,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,748,177.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Kontoor Brands from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Kontoor Brands from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Kontoor Brands from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kontoor Brands from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kontoor Brands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Kontoor Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

KTB stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $90.38. 413,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 488,072. The firm's 50 day moving average is $79.10 and its 200 day moving average is $72.58. Kontoor Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.33 and a twelve month high of $92.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Kontoor Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from Kontoor Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Kontoor Brands's payout ratio is currently 45.05%.

About Kontoor Brands

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.