West Family Investments Inc. Takes $268,000 Position in Kellanova (NYSE:K)

West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 491.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 473 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 205.4% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Kellanova by 55.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Kellanova by 339.9% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Finally, Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd boosted its holdings in Kellanova by 1,450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.62, for a total value of $4,171,636.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,698,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,825,668,797.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 933,600 shares of company stock valued at $51,891,044 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on K. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Kellanova from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Kellanova in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.27.

Kellanova Stock Performance

Shares of K stock traded up $4.49 on Thursday, hitting $61.47. 5,156,556 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,173,834. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $21.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.39. Kellanova has a 1-year low of $47.63 and a 1-year high of $72.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.06 and its 200 day moving average is $54.47.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Kellanova had a return on equity of 35.17% and a net margin of 6.25%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kellanova will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kellanova Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.45%.

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.