Truist Financial Corp Takes Position in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC)

Truist Financial Corp acquired a new stake in World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 20,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in World Kinect by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,056,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,637,000 after purchasing an additional 146,899 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in World Kinect by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,126,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,471,000 after purchasing an additional 140,314 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in World Kinect by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,972,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,714,000 after purchasing an additional 284,560 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in World Kinect by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,631,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,150,000 after purchasing an additional 52,930 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in World Kinect by 12.4% during the 1st 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of World Kinect from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on World Kinect from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 58,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.92, for a total value of $1,645,828.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,063 shares in the company, valued at $28,452,238.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Michael J. Kasbar sold 58,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.92, for a total value of $1,645,828.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,019,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,452,238.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Manley sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.28, for a total value of $452,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,083.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

World Kinect Price Performance

World Kinect stock opened at $31.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.25. World Kinect Co. has a 52-week low of $17.69 and a 52-week high of $31.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.15.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.08). World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.26% and a net margin of 0.29%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. World Kinect’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that World Kinect Co. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

World Kinect Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. World Kinect’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.12%.

World Kinect announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.