Great Lakes Advisors LLC Takes $9.18 Million Position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 333,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,182,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.57% of World Kinect at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in World Kinect in the 3rd quarter worth about $138,806,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in World Kinect in the 4th quarter worth about $50,707,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in World Kinect by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in World Kinect by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,370,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,358,000 after purchasing an additional 22,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in World Kinect by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,341,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,465,000 after purchasing an additional 56,952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other World Kinect news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 21,507 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.96, for a total value of $622,842.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,019,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,512,064.48. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.80.

World Kinect Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WKC opened at $27.79 on Thursday. World Kinect Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.38 and a fifty-two week high of $31.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.05. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.43% and a net margin of 0.16%. The business had revenue of $9.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.57 billion. On average, analysts expect that World Kinect Co. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

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.