Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Acquires 93,180 Shares of Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 732,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,180 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 3.75% of Kforce worth $51,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KFRC. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kforce by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 66,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,946,000 after buying an additional 13,276 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 40,527 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Kforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 99,240 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,705,000 after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the period. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,103,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Kforce from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Kforce Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KFRC traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, reaching $61.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,771. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Kforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.75 and a 52-week high of $74.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.04.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.58. The company had revenue of $351.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $354.92 million. Kforce had a return on equity of 36.39% and a net margin of 3.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kforce Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Kforce’s payout ratio is 52.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kforce

In other news, Director Mark F. Furlong sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $308,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,622,524.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Joseph J. Liberatore sold 6,638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,252,991.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark F. Furlong sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.70, for a total transaction of $308,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,622,524.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,439 shares of company stock worth $1,015,114 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.30% 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.