Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Hits New 52-Week High After Strong Earnings

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $70.78 and last traded at $68.63, with a volume of 56099 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.27.

The business services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.13. Korn Ferry had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The company had revenue of $690.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $687.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Korn Ferry’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Korn Ferry’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KFY has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Korn Ferry from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Korn Ferry from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Korn Ferry in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Korn Ferry from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Korn Ferry from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.00.

Institutional Trading of Korn Ferry

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Korn Ferry by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 13,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 40.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 2.5% during the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 14,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.82% of the company’s stock.

Korn Ferry Trading Down 5.0 %

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.97. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

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.