Maverick Capital Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Kellanova (NYSE:K)

Maverick Capital Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Kellanova (NYSE:K) by 56.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 667,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 859,464 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. owned approximately 0.19% of Kellanova worth $53,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in K. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Kellanova by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kellanova during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Kellanova by 529.3% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kellanova by 61.9% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 523 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kellanova by 48.8% in the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. 83.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kellanova Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Kellanova stock opened at $81.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $80.82 and a 200 day moving average of $71.26. Kellanova has a fifty-two week low of $51.02 and a fifty-two week high of $81.34.

Kellanova (NYSE:K) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Kellanova had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 37.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kellanova will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kellanova Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio is 78.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Kellanova news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.25, for a total value of $9,195,285.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,482,855 shares in the company, valued at $4,051,249,113.75. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,145,830 shares of company stock worth $92,516,606. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on K. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $64.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Kellanova from $76.00 to $83.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. DA Davidson cut shares of Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $80.00 to $83.50 in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kellanova from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Kellanova from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, November 1st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.35.

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.