Kellanova (NYSE:K) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Kellanova from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.50 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.96.

Kellanova Stock Performance

K opened at $82.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.12 and a 200-day moving average of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.81. Kellanova has a 52-week low of $54.70 and a 52-week high of $83.22. The company has a market cap of $28.42 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.31.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.61. Kellanova had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 37.25%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kellanova Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

Insider Transactions at Kellanova

In related news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.85, for a total transaction of $9,264,035.55. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 48,764,110 shares in the company, valued at $3,942,578,293.50. This represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,260,413 shares of company stock valued at $103,099,492. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kellanova

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of K. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kellanova by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,435,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,626,322,000 after acquiring an additional 281,137 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Kellanova by 5.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,725,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,489,000 after purchasing an additional 731,273 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kellanova by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,884,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,014,000 after purchasing an additional 158,560 shares during the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP lifted its position in Kellanova by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 5,755,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,982,000 after purchasing an additional 450,700 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kellanova by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,168,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,489,000 after purchasing an additional 111,396 shares during the last quarter. 83.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Kellanova

Kellanova, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets snacks and convenience foods in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa. Its principal products include crackers, crisps, savory snacks, toaster pastries, cereal bars, granola bars and bites, ready-to-eat cereals, frozen waffles, veggie foods, and noodles.