WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" from Brokerages

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.71.

Separately, Barclays lifted their price target on WK Kellogg from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

WK Kellogg Price Performance

NYSE KLG traded down $0.29 on Monday, reaching $20.49. 643,519 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,039,608. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.71. WK Kellogg has a 12 month low of $11.95 and a 12 month high of $24.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64 and a beta of 0.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. WK Kellogg had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company had revenue of $689.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. WK Kellogg's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that WK Kellogg will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

WK Kellogg Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. WK Kellogg's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Zachary Gund purchased 65,000 shares of WK Kellogg stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 195,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,463,200. This trade represents a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of WK Kellogg

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KLG. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 12,352.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,516,417 shares of the company's stock worth $25,946,000 after buying an additional 1,504,239 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,507,713 shares of the company's stock worth $25,802,000 after acquiring an additional 38,939 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 579.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,403,854 shares of the company's stock worth $23,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,133 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in WK Kellogg by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,124,503 shares of the company's stock worth $19,240,000 after buying an additional 266,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 79,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.74% of the company's stock.

About WK Kellogg

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.