Bleakley Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Kellanova (NYSE:K)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lowered its position in Kellanova (NYSE:K) by 51.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,617 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Kellanova were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in K. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Kellanova by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 31,697,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,122,486,000 after purchasing an additional 369,648 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,353,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,981,000 after buying an additional 646,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Kellanova by 2.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,696,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $947,753,000 after buying an additional 369,620 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kellanova by 2.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $378,150,000 after buying an additional 159,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Kellanova by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,559,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,841,000 after buying an additional 200,870 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on K. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.27.

Kellanova Price Performance

K opened at $55.42 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Kellanova has a 52-week low of $47.63 and a 52-week high of $72.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.06. The company has a market cap of $18.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.40.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Kellanova had a net margin of 6.25% and a return on equity of 35.17%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Kellanova’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Kellanova will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Kellanova Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.90, for a total value of $4,115,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,309,038 shares in the company, valued at $2,767,148,110.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 933,600 shares of company stock worth $51,259,308. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kellanova Company Profile

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.