WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Stock Price Down 6% After Analyst Downgrade

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG)’s share price fell 6% on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $16.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. WK Kellogg traded as low as $16.61 and last traded at $16.53. 669,610 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 913,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.58.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on KLG. TD Cowen lowered shares of WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director G Zachary Gund acquired 65,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $17.76 per share, for a total transaction of $1,154,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 195,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,463,200. The trade was a 50.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WK Kellogg

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in WK Kellogg by 11.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 439,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,232,000 after buying an additional 46,735 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 145,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,394,000 after acquiring an additional 8,647 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 579.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,403,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197,133 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in WK Kellogg by 158.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 33,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 20,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in WK Kellogg during the 2nd quarter valued at $183,000. Institutional investors own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

WK Kellogg Trading Down 7.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.70.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $689.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WK Kellogg Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. 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.