Entropy Technologies LP Purchases Shares of 18,945 World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 18,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in World Kinect by 891.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 12,522 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 52,688 shares of the company's stock worth $1,394,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,468 shares of the company's stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 4,776 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,062 shares of the company's stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,056,230 shares of the company's stock worth $186,637,000 after buying an additional 146,899 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other World Kinect news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 58,948 shares of World Kinect stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.92, for a total value of $1,645,828.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,063 shares in the company, valued at $28,452,238.96. The trade was a 5.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WKC. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of World Kinect from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of World Kinect from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, World Kinect has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.20.

World Kinect Price Performance

Shares of WKC traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 372,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 658,264. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.99. World Kinect Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.97 and a fifty-two week high of $31.70.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.62. World Kinect had a net margin of 0.30% and a return on equity of 6.29%. The company had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. The business's revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that World Kinect Co. will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 9th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. World Kinect's payout ratio is 30.22%.

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.