Kellanova (NYSE:K) Upgraded by Royal Bank of Canada to Outperform Rating

Kellanova (NYSE:K) was upgraded by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $83.50 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 1.51% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Kellanova from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Kellanova in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kellanova presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.96.

Kellanova Price Performance

Kellanova stock opened at $82.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $28.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. Kellanova has a 1 year low of $52.46 and a 1 year high of $82.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.35.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.61. Kellanova had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 37.25%. On average, research analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kellanova

In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.99, for a total transaction of $9,280,077.17. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,337,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,995,805,654.75. This represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,260,413 shares of company stock worth $102,571,264. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kellanova

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in K. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kellanova in the fourth quarter worth $285,126,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kellanova by 869.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,579,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,313,047 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Kellanova by 182.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,388,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,000 shares during the period. Westchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kellanova in the third quarter worth $107,795,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Kellanova by 134.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,800,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,309,000 after buying an additional 1,033,383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.87% 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.