WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Trading 5% Higher – Time to Buy?

WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG)’s share price traded up 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $21.10 and last traded at $21.05. 143,168 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 1,104,995 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KLG shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen cut shares of WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.88.

WK Kellogg Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 expect that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WK Kellogg

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLG. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in shares of WK Kellogg in the fourth quarter valued at about $454,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in WK Kellogg in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,994,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,051,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of WK Kellogg during the fourth quarter worth approximately $198,000. Finally, Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. now owns 63,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 16,563 shares during the period. 95.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.