WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.165 per share on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

WK Kellogg has a payout ratio of 35.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect WK Kellogg to earn $1.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.8%.

WK Kellogg Stock Performance

KLG stock traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.47. 579,947 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 976,142. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.69. WK Kellogg has a 12 month low of $12.32 and a 12 month high of $24.63.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $674.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. WK Kellogg’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that WK Kellogg will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director G Zachary Gund acquired 65,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.76 per share, with a total value of $1,154,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 195,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,463,200. The trade was a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.