Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $56.21, but opened at $57.45. Kforce shares last traded at $58.10, with a volume of 13,992 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KFRC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Kforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Sidoti upgraded Kforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.75.

Kforce Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.00 and a 200 day moving average of $63.21. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $356.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $356.20 million. Kforce had a return on equity of 34.89% and a net margin of 3.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Kforce Inc. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. Kforce’s payout ratio is currently 52.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Kforce by 59.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kforce in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kforce by 487.7% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in Kforce by 50.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 900 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Kforce during the second quarter valued at $68,000. 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.