Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 2,083 Shares of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY)

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its stake in shares of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,083 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.38% of Korn Ferry worth $13,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Korn Ferry by 193.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 425,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,050,000 after acquiring an additional 281,024 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Korn Ferry by 323.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after buying an additional 14,124 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 5.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 271,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,463,000 after buying an additional 14,601 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Korn Ferry by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,204 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Korn Ferry by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,217,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $91,587,000 after acquiring an additional 28,014 shares during the last quarter. 98.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KFY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target 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 upgraded Korn Ferry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Korn Ferry Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KFY opened at $68.93 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.44. Korn Ferry has a 52 week low of $59.78 and a 52 week high of $80.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 1.57.

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $676.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $650.45 million. Korn Ferry had a return on equity of 14.27% and a net margin of 9.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Korn Ferry will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Korn Ferry Increases Dividend

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

Korn Ferry Profile

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.