Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) Hits New 1-Year Low - Here's What Happened

Shares of Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $55.15 and last traded at $55.44, with a volume of 5040 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised Kforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.00.

Kforce Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 2.33.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.02. Kforce had a net margin of 3.56% and a return on equity of 34.89%. The company had revenue of $356.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $356.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kforce Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Kforce's payout ratio is 52.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Kforce by 59.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 427 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in Kforce by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 900 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Kforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Kforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Kforce

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.