Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $62.52, but opened at $68.70. Korn Ferry shares last traded at $68.67, with a volume of 70,290 shares traded.

The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.06. Korn Ferry had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 9.03%. The business had revenue of $676.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 27th. This is an increase from Korn Ferry’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on KFY shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Korn Ferry from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Institutional Trading of Korn Ferry

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KFY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Korn Ferry by 193.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 425,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,050,000 after acquiring an additional 281,024 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 7.0% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 949,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $71,431,000 after acquiring an additional 62,385 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc grew its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 323.7% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 14,124 shares in the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 72,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,455,000 after purchasing an additional 13,017 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Korn Ferry during the 3rd quarter worth about $103,546,000. 98.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Korn Ferry Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.75.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, provides organizational consulting services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) & Professional Search. The company provides executive search services to recruit board level, chief executive, other senior executive, and general management talent of organizations.