HighTower Advisors LLC Has $1.18 Million Holdings in Kellanova $K

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Kellanova by 57.9% during Q1, now holding 14,284 shares valued at $1,178,000 after selling 19,662 shares.
• Kellanova reported Q2 earnings of $0.94 per share, missing estimates by 5 cents, despite a slight year-over-year revenue increase of 0.3%.
• The company is set to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share on September 15, marking an increase from the previous dividend of $0.57.

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K - Free Report) by 57.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,284 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,662 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Kellanova were worth $1,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kellanova by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,695,348 shares of the company's stock worth $2,697,039,000 after acquiring an additional 259,604 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Kellanova by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,718,498 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,626,579,000 after purchasing an additional 128,439 shares during the period. Pentwater Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Kellanova by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 5,755,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $465,982,000 after purchasing an additional 450,700 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Kellanova by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,897,899 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,613,000 after purchasing an additional 530,132 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Kellanova by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,661,225 shares of the company's stock valued at $215,479,000 after purchasing an additional 86,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

K has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Kellanova to a "neutral" rating and set a $83.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Kellanova from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Kellanova in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $83.50 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kellanova currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.38.

Kellanova Price Performance

K traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $79.48. 3,564,768 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,009,401. Kellanova has a 12 month low of $77.70 and a 12 month high of $83.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 0.27.

Kellanova (NYSE:K - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.19 billion. Kellanova had a return on equity of 32.54% and a net margin of 10.56%.The firm's revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kellanova will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kellanova Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Kellanova's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Kellanova's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.84%.

Insider Activity at Kellanova

In other news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,599 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.55, for a total value of $9,116,350.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 45,097,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,587,501,192.90. This represents a 0.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,260,429 shares of company stock valued at $100,650,980 over the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.