Virtu Financial LLC Buys Shares of 12,849 WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of WK Kellogg Co (NYSE:KLG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 12,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in WK Kellogg by 172.9% during the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,494,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580,704 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,504,239 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of WK Kellogg by 563.8% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 333,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,703,000 after buying an additional 283,104 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WK Kellogg by 31.1% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,124,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,240,000 after buying an additional 266,877 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in WK Kellogg by 72.3% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 542,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,283,000 after buying an additional 227,730 shares in the last quarter. 95.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WK Kellogg Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of KLG stock opened at $19.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.30. WK Kellogg Co has a 12-month low of $15.17 and a 12-month high of $24.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.22.

WK Kellogg (NYSE:KLG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.14. WK Kellogg had a net margin of 2.66% and a return on equity of 39.81%. Research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from WK Kellogg’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. WK Kellogg’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLG has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen cut WK Kellogg from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on WK Kellogg in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of WK Kellogg from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WK Kellogg currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $17.89.

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.