Kellanova (NYSE:K) Downgraded by Argus to Hold

Argus cut shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on K. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Kellanova in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a neutral rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $67.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Kellanova in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Kellanova from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of Kellanova from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $83.50 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $74.32.

Kellanova Stock Performance

NYSE:K opened at $80.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.57. Kellanova has a fifty-two week low of $47.63 and a fifty-two week high of $81.00.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Kellanova had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 36.74%. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Kellanova Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Kellanova’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Kellanova’s payout ratio is currently 85.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kellanova

In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of Kellanova stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.19, for a total value of $4,371,582.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,064,238 shares in the company, valued at $2,869,299,533.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of Kellanova stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.19, for a total value of $4,371,582.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,064,238 shares in the company, valued at $2,869,299,533.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of Kellanova stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.72, for a total transaction of $9,249,139.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,139,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,047,228,636.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,080,732 shares of company stock worth $79,115,595. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kellanova

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in K. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 57.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kellanova in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Kellanova during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Kellanova by 61.9% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 523 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Kellanova during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

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.