WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Trading Down 6% on Analyst Downgrade

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG)’s stock price fell 6% on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $16.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. WK Kellogg traded as low as $16.61 and last traded at $16.53. 669,610 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 913,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.58.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their price target on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WK Kellogg presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director G Zachary Gund bought 65,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.94 per share, with a total value of $1,166,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,166,100. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WK Kellogg

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 199.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 71,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 47,973 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in WK Kellogg by 406.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,202,000 after acquiring an additional 103,301 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in WK Kellogg by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,112,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,036,000 after acquiring an additional 79,808 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 49,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 32,218 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in WK Kellogg by 12,352.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,516,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504,239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

WK Kellogg Trading Down 7.2 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92 and a beta of 0.72. 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 (NYSE:KLG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $689.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.10 million. WK Kellogg had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 2.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. Research analysts expect that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WK Kellogg Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.05%.

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.