MQS Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Korn Ferry during the 4th quarter worth about $36,347,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 96,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,756,000 after acquiring an additional 21,910 shares during the last quarter. Circumference Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Korn Ferry in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,131,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 719,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,700,000 after acquiring an additional 35,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Korn Ferry during the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,304,000. 98.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Korn Ferry Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of KFY stock traded up $1.55 on Friday, hitting $72.22. 16,560 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 359,017. Korn Ferry has a twelve month low of $44.45 and a twelve month high of $72.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $66.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 1.79.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 13th. The business services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $690.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $687.36 million. Korn Ferry had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 13.18%. Korn Ferry’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Korn Ferry will post 4.81 EPS for the current year.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. This is an increase from Korn Ferry’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Korn Ferry’s payout ratio is currently 45.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KFY shares. StockNews.com upgraded Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Korn Ferry from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Korn Ferry from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $74.00) on shares of Korn Ferry in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Korn Ferry presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.00.

Insider Transactions at Korn Ferry

In related news, CEO Mark Arian sold 5,000 shares of Korn Ferry stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.01, for a total value of $330,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 91,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,038,858.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Korn Ferry Profile

Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, provides organizational consulting services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) & Professional Search. The company provides executive search services to recruit board level, chief executive, other senior executive, and general management talent of organizations.