Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 3,222 Shares of WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,190 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,222 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in WK Kellogg were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLG. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 12,352.1% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,516,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,946,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504,239 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 563.8% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 333,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,703,000 after acquiring an additional 283,104 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,124,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,240,000 after acquiring an additional 266,877 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 72.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 542,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,283,000 after acquiring an additional 227,730 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of WK Kellogg by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,056,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,012,000 after acquiring an additional 206,320 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.74% of the company’s stock.

WK Kellogg Stock Performance

Shares of KLG opened at $19.42 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.95. 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 Co has a 12 month low of $14.37 and a 12 month high of $24.63. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.70.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last issued 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%. Research analysts anticipate that WK Kellogg Co will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WK Kellogg Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is an increase from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KLG shares. Barclays reduced their target price on 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 target on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.88.

WK Kellogg Profile

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.