River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Holdings in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC - Free Report) by 72.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 297,336 shares of the company's stock after selling 792,427 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.50% of World Kinect worth $9,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WKC. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in World Kinect by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 30,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of World Kinect by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 52,688 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of World Kinect by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 70,091 shares of the company's stock worth $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in World Kinect by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,062 shares of the company's stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in World Kinect by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 6,927 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 58,948 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.92, for a total transaction of $1,645,828.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,019,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,452,238.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

World Kinect Trading Up 7.0 %

Shares of NYSE WKC traded up $1.87 on Wednesday, reaching $28.62. 1,469,292 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 663,724. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.26. World Kinect Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.72 and a fifty-two week high of $31.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.41 and a 200 day moving average of $27.12.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 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 firm had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 earnings per share. World Kinect's revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that World Kinect Co. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. World Kinect's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.22%.

World Kinect declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.