Northern Trust Corp Boosts Position in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC)

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 258,765 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,811 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.36% of Kforce worth $14,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KFRC. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in Kforce by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,058 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Kforce by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 36,605 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,076,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Kforce by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,810 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kforce by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,154 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,189 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 92.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kforce Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KFRC traded down $0.84 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.98. 3,380 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 129,184. Kforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.50 and a 52-week high of $71.48. 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 50-day moving average of $44.51 and a 200-day moving average of $51.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $763.46 million, a P/E ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Kforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Kforce's payout ratio is currently 61.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KFRC shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Kforce from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Kforce from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity at Kforce

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 acquired at an average cost of $37.80 per share, for a total transaction of $37,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 517,329 shares in the company, valued at $19,555,036.20. The trade was a 0.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kforce Profile

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.