JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 281,024 Shares of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) by 193.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 425,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 281,024 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.83% of Korn Ferry worth $32,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KFY. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Korn Ferry during the third quarter valued at approximately $103,546,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 1,846.0% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 886,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,553,000 after acquiring an additional 841,413 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 377.6% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 239,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,102,000 after acquiring an additional 189,607 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 129.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 239,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,053,000 after acquiring an additional 135,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 13.2% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 988,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $74,337,000 after acquiring an additional 115,523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KFY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on Korn Ferry from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Korn Ferry Price Performance

KFY opened at $67.11 on Tuesday. Korn Ferry has a 12-month low of $54.77 and a 12-month high of $80.64. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The business services provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21. Korn Ferry had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 9.03%. The firm had revenue of $682.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $675.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Korn Ferry will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Korn Ferry Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio is 31.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Korn Ferry

In related news, Director Debra J. Perry sold 5,280 shares of Korn Ferry stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.30, for a total transaction of $387,024.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,384,994. This trade represents a 10.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Arian sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.24, for a total value of $1,444,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,975,096.56. This represents a 22.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.