Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Takes $823,000 Position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 36,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $823,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of World Kinect as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in World Kinect in the 3rd quarter valued at $157,793,000. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in World Kinect during the fourth quarter valued at $26,514,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in World Kinect during the fourth quarter worth about $12,990,000. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in World Kinect in the 4th quarter worth about $3,843,000. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,594,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

World Kinect Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of WKC opened at $23.76 on Tuesday. World Kinect Co. has a 1 year low of $17.69 and a 1 year high of $26.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.26.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.23 billion. World Kinect had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 6.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that World Kinect Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

World Kinect Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from World Kinect’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. World Kinect’s payout ratio is currently 73.12%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on WKC shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on World Kinect from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of World Kinect in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.75.

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.