Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) Lifted to “Buy” at Sidoti

Sidoti upgraded shares of Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $71.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com raised Kforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.75.

Kforce Price Performance

KFRC stock opened at $56.06 on Tuesday. Kforce has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $74.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 2.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.13.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $356.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $356.20 million. Kforce had a return on equity of 34.89% and a net margin of 3.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kforce will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Kforce’s payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Kforce by 59.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Kforce during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kforce by 487.7% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Kforce by 50.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Kforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Kforce Company Profile

Kforce Inc provides professional staffing services and solutions in the United States. It operates through two segments, Technology, and Finance and Accounting (FA). The Technology segment provides talent solutions to its clients primarily in the areas of information technology, such as systems/applications architecture and development, data management and analytics, business and artificial intelligence, machine learning, project and program management, and network architecture and security.