Assetmark Inc. Raises Holdings in Kellanova (NYSE:K)

Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) by 26.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 631 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Kellanova were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in K. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Kellanova by 11.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,616,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,909,000 after acquiring an additional 277,171 shares in the last quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 0.5% during the second quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 2,141,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,546,000 after buying an additional 10,510 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 766.5% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,881,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,532,000 after buying an additional 1,664,461 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kellanova during the second quarter valued at approximately $88,065,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 3.0% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,391,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,244,000 after buying an additional 40,406 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on K. Argus lowered Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Kellanova from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Kellanova in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Kellanova from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $83.50 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Kellanova from $67.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kellanova has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.35.

Insider Transactions at Kellanova

In related news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $9,253,723.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,680,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,012,219,308.24. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,072,264 shares of company stock valued at $86,452,375 in the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kellanova Price Performance

NYSE K opened at $80.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.15. Kellanova has a 1 year low of $51.02 and a 1 year high of $81.34. The company has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. Kellanova had a return on equity of 37.05% and a net margin of 7.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Kellanova Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Kellanova’s payout ratio is currently 78.35%.

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.