Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR - Free Report) by 89.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,600 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 124,600 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in KBR were worth $846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KBR. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of KBR during the fourth quarter worth about $47,022,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of KBR by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 60,314 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of KBR by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,665 shares of the construction company's stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 3,566 shares during the period. Access Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in KBR by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 27,688 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,604,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in KBR by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 531 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. 97.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KBR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on KBR from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on KBR from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on KBR from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of KBR from $77.00 to $69.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.86.

KBR Stock Down 6.4%

Shares of KBR stock traded down $3.53 on Wednesday, hitting $51.80. The company had a trading volume of 713,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,317,603. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.83. KBR, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.89 and a 1 year high of $72.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.74 and a 200-day moving average of $55.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

KBR (NYSE:KBR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The construction company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. KBR had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 4.35%. KBR's quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KBR, Inc. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

KBR Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. KBR's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.07%.

Insider Transactions at KBR

In other news, insider Gregory Sean Conlon sold 19,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $961,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 63,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,214,134.47. This represents a 23.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.11% 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.