Wall Street Zen Upgrades KBR (NYSE:KBR) to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KBR (NYSE:KBR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lowered KBR from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $70.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. KeyCorp lowered KBR from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered KBR from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on KBR from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on KBR from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KBR currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.78.

KBR Price Performance

KBR opened at $49.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $48.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.35. KBR has a 1 year low of $43.89 and a 1 year high of $72.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.73.

KBR (NYSE:KBR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The construction company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. KBR had a return on equity of 33.65% and a net margin of 4.52%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. KBR has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.780-3.88 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that KBR will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KBR Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. KBR’s payout ratio is 23.91%.

Insider Activity at KBR

In related news, CEO Stuart Bradie sold 20,000 shares of KBR stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.81, for a total transaction of $1,056,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 802,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,372,684.41. The trade was a 2.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KBR

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KBR. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of KBR by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,922 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,729 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in KBR by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 651,981 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,769,000 after acquiring an additional 25,230 shares during the period. Man Group plc lifted its holdings in KBR by 127.4% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 219,492 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after acquiring an additional 122,980 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in KBR by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,234 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in KBR by 730.1% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 189,026 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $10,950,000 after acquiring an additional 219,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.02% of the company’s stock.

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.