Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 33,159 Shares of World Kinect Corporation $WKC

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in World Kinect Corporation by 60.6% during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately 0.16% of the company, valued at about $2.49 million.
• World Kinect recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20, an increase from the previous $0.17, resulting in an annual dividend yield of 3.0%.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed earnings per share of $0.59, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.48, but fell short on revenue with $9.04 billion compared to the estimated $9.32 billion.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in World Kinect Corporation (NYSE:WKC - Free Report) by 60.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,902 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,159 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.16% of World Kinect worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of World Kinect by 56.2% in the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 226,081 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,412,000 after purchasing an additional 81,348 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of World Kinect in the 1st quarter valued at $7,825,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in World Kinect during the 1st quarter worth $310,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in World Kinect by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,307 shares of the company's stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 2,925 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in World Kinect by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,550,042 shares of the company's stock worth $43,959,000 after buying an additional 348,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on WKC shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on World Kinect from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $35.00) on shares of World Kinect in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $29.40.

World Kinect Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of WKC traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.77. The stock had a trading volume of 477,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 635,603. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.20. World Kinect Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.70 and a twelve month high of $31.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.11. World Kinect had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 1.11%.The firm had revenue of $9.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.32 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that World Kinect Corporation will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

World Kinect Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from World Kinect's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. World Kinect's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -10.48%.

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.