Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Increases Position in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 756,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,920 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 3.88% of Kforce worth $47,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KFRC. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Kforce by 36.1% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,207,000 after purchasing an additional 12,050 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kforce by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 999,557 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $67,530,000 after acquiring an additional 40,527 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,103,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kforce by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 199,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,480,000 after purchasing an additional 2,941 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Kforce by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 69,578 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,701,000 after purchasing an additional 3,429 shares during the period. 92.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Kforce from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

Kforce Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Kforce stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 45,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 82,348. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.66 and a 200 day moving average of $65.48. Kforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.55 and a 1-year high of $74.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.40 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Kforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Kforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.60%.

Insider Activity

In other Kforce news, CEO Joseph J. Liberatore sold 6,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total value of $411,688.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 213,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,252,991.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Kforce news, CEO Joseph J. Liberatore sold 6,638 shares of Kforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total transaction of $411,688.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,252,991.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark F. Furlong sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total value of $308,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,297 shares in the company, valued at $1,622,524.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,439 shares of company stock worth $1,015,114 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

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.