Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $42.76, but opened at $39.70. Kforce shares last traded at $39.05, with a volume of 15,221 shares.

The business services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $330.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.61 million. Kforce had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 30.34%. Kforce's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share.

Kforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Kforce's payout ratio is presently 61.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KFRC. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Kforce from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company 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 on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Kforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kforce

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Kforce by 1,069.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 795 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Kforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Kforce by 147.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,118 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Kforce by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Kforce by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,547 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.77% of the company's stock.

Kforce Stock Performance

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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $739.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 0.76.

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.