Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) by 51.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,067 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,281 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in World Kinect were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WKC. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of World Kinect by 6.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 527,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,697,000 after acquiring an additional 33,332 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in World Kinect by 12.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,358,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,263,000 after purchasing an additional 149,433 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP increased its position in shares of World Kinect by 77.5% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 44,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 19,467 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of World Kinect by 76.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,599,000 after buying an additional 60,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in World Kinect in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,073,000. 97.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WKC shares. 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 report 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, World Kinect presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.20.

World Kinect Stock Performance

WKC opened at $27.85 on Friday. World Kinect Co. has a twelve month low of $19.97 and a twelve month high of $31.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.26.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.62. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%. The business had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that World Kinect Co. will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $1,645,828.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,019,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,452,238.96. The trade was a 5.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.