River Road Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,163,922 World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

River Road Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,163,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,514,000. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 1.93% of World Kinect as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WKC. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in World Kinect by 1.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,726,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,052,000 after acquiring an additional 146,156 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $157,793,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of World Kinect by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,988,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,002,000 after purchasing an additional 538,300 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in World Kinect by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,359,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,774,000 after purchasing an additional 282,839 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in World Kinect by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,171,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,940,000 after buying an additional 50,962 shares during the last quarter. 97.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WKC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on World Kinect in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul H. Stebbins sold 20,000 shares of World Kinect stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.37, for a total transaction of $487,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,836,888.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

World Kinect Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of WKC stock opened at $24.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.11. World Kinect Co. has a 1 year low of $17.69 and a 1 year high of $26.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.70.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.23 billion. World Kinect had a net margin of 0.11% and a return on equity of 6.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that World Kinect Co. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

World Kinect Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a boost from World Kinect’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.95%.

World Kinect Company Profile

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.