World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) Short Interest Down 18.8% in December

World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,150,000 shares, a decline of 18.8% from the December 15th total of 6,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 838,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.1 days. Currently, 9.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

World Kinect Stock Performance

Shares of World Kinect stock opened at $27.66 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.28. World Kinect has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $31.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62. The business had revenue of $10.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%. World Kinect’s quarterly revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that World Kinect will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. World Kinect’s payout ratio is presently 30.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, World Kinect has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.20.

Institutional Trading of World Kinect

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of World Kinect in the third quarter valued at $138,806,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of World Kinect by 3.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,126,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,471,000 after buying an additional 140,314 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of World Kinect by 10.6% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,972,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,714,000 after buying an additional 284,560 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of World Kinect during the 4th quarter valued at $50,707,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of World Kinect by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,371,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,201 shares during the period. 97.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.