WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 323,586 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,243 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of WK Kellogg worth $5,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in WK Kellogg by 199.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 71,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 47,973 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 406.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,202,000 after purchasing an additional 103,301 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of WK Kellogg by 7.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,112,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,036,000 after purchasing an additional 79,808 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 191.9% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 49,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 32,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in WK Kellogg by 12,352.1% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,516,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,946,000 after buying an additional 1,504,239 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on KLG shares. Barclays reduced their target price on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on 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 lowered their price target on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.88.

WK Kellogg Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE KLG opened at $19.86 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.93. WK Kellogg Co has a 52-week low of $14.37 and a 52-week high of $24.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.70.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

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.