Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Short Interest Up 11.7% in December

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, an increase of 11.7% from the December 15th total of 984,500 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 338,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Korn Ferry Stock Up 1.3 %

Korn Ferry stock traded up $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.69. 522,166 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 322,048. Korn Ferry has a 1-year low of $55.26 and a 1-year high of $80.64. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The business services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21. Korn Ferry had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 9.03%. The business had revenue of $682.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $675.35 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Korn Ferry will post 4.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Korn Ferry Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Korn Ferry from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

Insider Activity at Korn Ferry

In other Korn Ferry news, CEO Mark Arian sold 20,000 shares of Korn Ferry stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.24, for a total transaction of $1,444,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,975,096.56. The trade was a 22.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 112.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 388 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 149.1% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 26.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Korn Ferry in the second quarter worth $148,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Korn Ferry by 1,083.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.82% of the company’s stock.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, provides organizational consulting services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) & Professional Search. The company provides executive search services to recruit board level, chief executive, other senior executive, and general management talent of organizations.