WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Strong Sell” by Brokerages

Shares of WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) have received a consensus rating of “Strong Sell” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.57.

Several brokerages have issued reports on KLG. TD Cowen cut WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of WK Kellogg from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director G Zachary Gund purchased 65,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 195,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,463,200. This represents a 50.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake 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 worth $25,946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504,239 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $25,802,000 after purchasing an additional 38,939 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in WK Kellogg by 579.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,403,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,107,000 after buying an additional 1,197,133 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in WK Kellogg by 31.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $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.

WK Kellogg Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of WK Kellogg stock opened at $15.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.68. WK Kellogg has a twelve month low of $12.32 and a twelve month high of $24.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $689.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.10 million. WK Kellogg had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WK Kellogg will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WK Kellogg Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.