Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Buys New Stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of World Kinect by 1.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,726,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,052,000 after purchasing an additional 146,156 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new stake in World Kinect during the third quarter valued at approximately $157,793,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in World Kinect by 15.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,988,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,002,000 after purchasing an additional 538,300 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in World Kinect by 26.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,359,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,774,000 after purchasing an additional 282,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in World Kinect by 4.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,171,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,940,000 after purchasing an additional 50,962 shares in the last quarter. 97.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WKC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on World Kinect from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on World Kinect in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, World Kinect presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul H. Stebbins sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.37, for a total value of $487,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,836,888.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

World Kinect Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of WKC opened at $26.46 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.95. World Kinect Co. has a one year low of $17.69 and a one year high of $26.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.39.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.04. World Kinect had a net margin of 0.11% and a return on equity of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that World Kinect Co. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This is a boost from World Kinect’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. World Kinect’s payout ratio is 80.95%.

World Kinect 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.