KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Boosts Stock Holdings in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC)

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in Kforce Inc. by 78.7% in the 1st quarter, owning 21,800 shares valued at $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 9,600 shares.
• Kforce reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.59, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60, with revenue down 6.2% year-over-year.
• Current institutional ownership of Kforce stands at 92.77%, with several hedge funds recently adjusting their positions in the company.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC - Free Report) by 78.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,800 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,600 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned about 0.12% of Kforce worth $1,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Kforce by 0.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 149,463 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,307,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Kforce by 5.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 175,433 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,995 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Kforce by 10.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,019 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Kforce by 3.8% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 35,834 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,311 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Kforce by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 258,765 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,672,000 after purchasing an additional 13,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Kforce Stock Performance

KFRC traded down $1.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 81,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 156,802. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Kforce Inc. has a one year low of $33.28 and a one year high of $67.33. The firm has a market cap of $630.35 million, a PE ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.75. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $41.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.83.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Kforce had a return on equity of 30.34% and a net margin of 3.59%. The business had revenue of $334.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $333.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kforce Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Kforce's dividend payout ratio is 65.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on KFRC shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kforce from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Kforce from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David L. Dunkel acquired 1,000 shares of Kforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $37.80 per share, with a total value of $37,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 517,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,555,036.20. This trade represents a 0.19% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.