WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) Earns Underweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an underweight rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on KLG. TD Cowen cut 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $17.89.

WK Kellogg Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KLG opened at $18.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. WK Kellogg has a 1-year low of $15.17 and a 1-year high of $24.63.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts anticipate that WK Kellogg will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. WK Kellogg’s payout ratio is currently 81.48%.

Institutional Trading of WK Kellogg

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in WK Kellogg by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 4,925,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,609,000 after acquiring an additional 52,129 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 149.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,186,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510,779 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 172.9% during the 4th quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,494,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580,704 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,827,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,877,000 after buying an additional 17,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in WK Kellogg by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,705,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,682,000 after buying an additional 189,092 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

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.