D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Boosts Stake in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC - Free Report) by 46.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,663 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,416 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Kforce worth $1,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Kforce by 171.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,166 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,591,000 after purchasing an additional 26,657 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Kforce by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 34,523 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,957,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Kforce by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,067 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Kforce by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kforce by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 422,930 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $23,980,000 after buying an additional 117,231 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KFRC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Kforce from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kforce from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David L. Dunkel purchased 1,000 shares of Kforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $37.80 per share, with a total value of $37,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 517,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,555,036.20. This represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Kforce Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:KFRC traded up $1.26 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.62. The company had a trading volume of 111,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 130,218. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 2.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.13. The stock has a market cap of $775.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53 and a beta of 0.74. Kforce Inc. has a one year low of $35.50 and a one year high of $71.48.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.03). Kforce had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 30.34%. The business had revenue of $330.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $334.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kforce Inc. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Kforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Kforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.18%.

About Kforce

Kforce Inc provides professional staffing services and solutions in the United States. It operates through two segments, Technology, and Finance and Accounting (FA). The Technology segment provides talent solutions to its clients primarily in the areas of information technology, such as systems/applications architecture and development, data management and analytics, business and artificial intelligence, machine learning, project and program management, and network architecture and security.