World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Key Points

• World Kinect has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating by Zacks Research, indicating positive sentiment from equity researchers.
• Despite the upgrade, Morgan Stanley has reduced its price target on World Kinect from $32 to $26, reflecting mixed opinions among analysts, including ratings that range from "strong buy" to "sell."
• In its latest earnings report, World Kinect surpassed EPS expectations, reporting $0.59 per share against an expected $0.48, but fell short on revenue, generating $9.04 billion versus the consensus estimate of $9.32 billion.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on WKC. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on World Kinect from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down 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 Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.75.

World Kinect Stock Performance

WKC opened at $25.95 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of -3.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.38. World Kinect has a 1 year low of $22.70 and a 1 year high of $31.64. 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. The business had revenue of $9.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.32 billion. World Kinect had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 1.11%. Research analysts expect that World Kinect will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of World Kinect

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of World Kinect during the 2nd quarter valued at $214,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 56,647 shares of the company's stock worth $1,606,000 after buying an additional 9,039 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 68.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 242,093 shares of the company's stock worth $6,863,000 after buying an additional 98,607 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 200.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 23,941 shares of the company's stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 15,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 242,796 shares of the company's stock worth $6,883,000 after buying an additional 16,715 shares during the last quarter. 97.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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