Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Hits New 52-Week High at $70.92

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $70.92 and last traded at $70.80, with a volume of 191472 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KFY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Korn Ferry from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Korn Ferry in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Korn Ferry from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.00.

Korn Ferry Trading Up 4.0 %

The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.89 and its 200-day moving average is $62.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The business services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.13. Korn Ferry had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 13.18%. The company had revenue of $690.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $687.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Korn Ferry will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This is a positive change from Korn Ferry’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.96%.

Insider Activity at Korn Ferry

In other Korn Ferry news, CEO Mark Arian sold 5,000 shares of Korn Ferry stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.01, for a total transaction of $330,050.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 91,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,038,858.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Korn Ferry

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Korn Ferry by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,257,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $296,868,000 after purchasing an additional 34,960 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 959,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,943,000 after purchasing an additional 336,040 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in Korn Ferry in the fourth quarter worth $599,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Korn Ferry by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. 98.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, provides organizational consulting services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) & Professional Search. The company provides executive search services to recruit board level, chief executive, other senior executive, and general management talent of organizations.