Cambridge Trust Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Kellanova (NYSE:K)

Cambridge Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Kellanova were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in K. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kellanova during the fourth quarter valued at about $131,663,000. Southeastern Asset Management Inc. TN bought a new position in shares of Kellanova during the first quarter valued at about $87,611,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kellanova by 29.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,990,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,485 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Kellanova by 27.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,890,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kellanova by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,353,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,981,000 after purchasing an additional 646,828 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Kellanova from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Kellanova from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kellanova presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.27.

Kellanova Stock Performance

K stock opened at $57.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.40. Kellanova has a 12-month low of $47.63 and a 12-month high of $72.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.04.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. Kellanova had a return on equity of 35.17% and a net margin of 6.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kellanova Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kellanova

In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 77,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total transaction of $4,169,302.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 52,853,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,832,426,460.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 933,600 shares of company stock worth $51,308,322. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

About Kellanova

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.