Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Kforce Inc. (NASDAQ:KFRC) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 272,212 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 157% from the previous session’s volume of 105,930 shares.The stock last traded at $54.57 and had previously closed at $53.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KFRC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sidoti upgraded Kforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.75.

Kforce Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a current ratio of 2.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.86.

Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $356.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $356.20 million. Kforce had a return on equity of 34.89% and a net margin of 3.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kforce Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Kforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Kforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kforce

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Kforce by 59.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Kforce by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 13,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kforce by 6.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 3,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kforce by 2.1% in the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 12,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Kforce by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 36,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,254,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.