World Kinect Co. (WKC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.17 on January 16th

World Kinect Co. (NYSE:WKC) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 16th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.17 per share on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd.

World Kinect has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.9% per year over the last three years. World Kinect has a payout ratio of 27.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 0.7 %

WKC opened at $28.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.99. World Kinect has a fifty-two week low of $21.21 and a fifty-two week high of $31.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.28.

World Kinect (NYSE:WKC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $11.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. World Kinect’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that World Kinect will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

World Kinect declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 9th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 11% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of World Kinect from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of World Kinect from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on World Kinect from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded World Kinect from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.20.

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.