WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Shares Up 3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) traded up 3% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $19.05 and last traded at $19.11. 223,280 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 999,378 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KLG shares. TD Cowen lowered shares of WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their target price 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, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on WK Kellogg in a research report on Monday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $17.89.

WK Kellogg Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. WK Kellogg had a return on equity of 39.81% and a net margin of 2.66%. Research analysts forecast that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. This is an increase from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WK Kellogg

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in WK Kellogg by 32.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 4,369 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in WK Kellogg in the 3rd quarter valued at about $997,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WK Kellogg by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,112,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,036,000 after acquiring an additional 79,808 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in WK Kellogg by 10.9% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 123,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 12,113 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 38,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $655,000 after purchasing an additional 21,559 shares during the period. 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.