Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 15,900 Kellanova (NYSE:K)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Kellanova (NYSE:K) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 15,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $889,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kellanova by 491.3% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 473 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 205.4% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 55.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 339.9% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 1,450.0% in the third quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.62, for a total value of $4,171,636.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,698,038 shares in the company, valued at $2,825,668,797.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 933,600 shares of company stock worth $51,632,748. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on K shares. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Kellanova in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.27.

Kellanova Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:K opened at $58.45 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.40. Kellanova has a twelve month low of $47.63 and a twelve month high of $72.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $55.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.22.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Kellanova’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Kellanova Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.45%.

Kellanova 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.