World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. 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 trading hands.

The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.05. World Kinect had a net margin of 0.30% and a return on equity of 6.29%. The firm had revenue of $9.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.57 billion.

World Kinect Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. World Kinect’s payout ratio is 30.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of World Kinect from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, World Kinect presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.80.

Institutional Trading of World Kinect

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the third quarter worth $138,806,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of World Kinect by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,067,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,399,000 after acquiring an additional 719,631 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the fourth quarter worth $50,707,000. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of World Kinect by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,492,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,226,000 after acquiring an additional 63,234 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of World Kinect by 0.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

World Kinect Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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.