StockNews.com Upgrades Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KFRC. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Kforce from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Sidoti upgraded shares of Kforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.67.

Kforce Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ KFRC traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $58.67. 21,226 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 114,265. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.04. Kforce has a 1-year low of $52.96 and a 1-year high of $74.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 2.06.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $353.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $352.19 million. Kforce had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 33.50%. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Kforce will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kforce

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Kforce by 59.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Kforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in Kforce by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Kforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Kforce by 96.0% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.77% 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.