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

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) in a report issued on Thursday. 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 objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.96.

Kellanova Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE K opened at $82.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Kellanova has a 12 month low of $55.01 and a 12 month high of $83.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.25.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.61. Kellanova had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 37.25%. Equities analysts expect that Kellanova will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Kellanova Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of Kellanova stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $9,239,973.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 48,878,693 shares in the company, valued at $3,941,577,803.52. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,374,996 shares of company stock valued at $112,530,818. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kellanova

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Kellanova by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 5.1% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 178,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,435,000 after purchasing an additional 8,686 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Kellanova in the fourth quarter worth approximately $384,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 134.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,800,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,383 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Kellanova in the third quarter worth approximately $4,211,000. 83.87% of the stock is currently 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.