Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Decreases Stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lowered its stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 897,307 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,528 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 1.50% of World Kinect worth $23,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WKC. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $1,421,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $1,262,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $4,100,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $1,248,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $35,957,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

World Kinect Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WKC traded up $0.47 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $28.25. The company had a trading volume of 663,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 543,705. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.90. World Kinect Co. has a fifty-two week low of $17.69 and a fifty-two week high of $28.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.08). World Kinect had a net margin of 0.29% and a return on equity of 6.26%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that World Kinect Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

World Kinect Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on WKC shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of World Kinect from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of World Kinect from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ken Bakshi sold 10,936 shares of World Kinect stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total value of $263,229.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 41,545 shares in the company, valued at $999,988.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

About World Kinect

World Kinect Corporation operates as an energy management company in the United States, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This segment also offers fuel management, price risk management, ground handling, dispatch services, and trip planning services, such as flight planning and scheduling, weather reports and overflight permits; payment and processing services; and operates a web-based marketplace platform.