Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KFY shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Korn Ferry from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Korn Ferry Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of KFY stock traded up $0.93 on Monday, hitting $70.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 522,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,048. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.57. Korn Ferry has a fifty-two week low of $55.26 and a fifty-two week high of $80.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.21.

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

Korn Ferry Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th were given a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.62%.

Insider Activity at Korn Ferry

In related news, CEO Mark Arian sold 20,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,975,096.56. This represents a 22.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Korn Ferry

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Korn Ferry in the 2nd quarter valued at $270,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 156,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,527,000 after purchasing an additional 19,464 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 7.9% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 9,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 377.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 189,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 141.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 26,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 15,575 shares in 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.