Clearbridge Investments LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 196,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,083 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Korn Ferry were worth $13,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KFY. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Korn Ferry during the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Korn Ferry by 230.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Korn Ferry during the 4th quarter worth $122,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Korn Ferry in the 4th quarter worth $162,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.82% of the company’s stock.

Korn Ferry Trading Up 0.7 %

KFY opened at $68.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 1.57. Korn Ferry has a 12 month low of $59.78 and a 12 month high of $80.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.44.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.06. Korn Ferry had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $676.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $650.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Korn Ferry will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Korn Ferry’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Korn Ferry’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Korn Ferry from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th.

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.