World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

Shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $27.60, but opened at $29.70. World Kinect shares last traded at $29.95, with a volume of 242,683 shares.

The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.57 billion. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on World Kinect from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WKC. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in World Kinect in the third quarter valued at approximately $138,806,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of World Kinect by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,067,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,399,000 after buying an additional 719,631 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of World Kinect during the 4th quarter valued at $50,707,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of World Kinect by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,492,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,226,000 after buying an additional 63,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of World Kinect by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,379,000 after buying an additional 4,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

World Kinect Stock Up 8.7 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.42. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

World Kinect Company 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.