Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 75,776 Shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. cut its position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 902,847 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,776 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 1.55% of World Kinect worth $27,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WKC. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of World Kinect by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 527,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,697,000 after buying an additional 33,332 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in World Kinect by 88.0% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 138,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,283,000 after acquiring an additional 64,867 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in World Kinect by 244.6% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 86,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 61,572 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in World Kinect by 76.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,599,000 after purchasing an additional 60,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of World Kinect by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,341,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,465,000 after purchasing an additional 56,952 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WKC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded World Kinect from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, World Kinect currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.20.

World Kinect Price Performance

WKC opened at $29.22 on Wednesday. World Kinect Co. has a 1 year low of $20.00 and a 1 year high of $31.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.62. The firm had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%. The company’s revenue was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that World Kinect Co. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 9th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

World Kinect Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

World Kinect Profile

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.