WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $16.31, but opened at $17.25. WK Kellogg shares last traded at $17.09, with a volume of 168,453 shares traded.

The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. WK Kellogg had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 2.50%.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.165 dividend. This is a boost from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on KLG shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen cut WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.88.

Institutional Trading of WK Kellogg

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of WK Kellogg by 88.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

WK Kellogg Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.78.

WK Kellogg Company Profile

WK Kellogg Co operates as a food company in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. It manufactures, markets, and distributes ready-to-eat cereal products primarily under the Frosted Flakes, Special K, Froot Loops, Raisin Bran, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Kashi brands. The company was formerly known as North America Cereal Co and changed its name to WK Kellogg Co in March 2023.