World Kinect Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.17 (NYSE:WKC)

World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 16th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.17 per share on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd.

World Kinect has raised its dividend by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years. World Kinect has a dividend payout ratio of 27.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect World Kinect to earn $2.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.8%.

World Kinect Price Performance

WKC stock opened at $26.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.91. World Kinect has a 12-month low of $21.21 and a 12-month high of $31.70.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62. World Kinect had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 0.30%. The business had revenue of $10.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that World Kinect will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WKC shares. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of World Kinect from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, World Kinect currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.20.

World Kinect announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 9th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 11% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.