Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Kellanova Call Options (NYSE:K)

Kellanova (NYSE:K) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 153,624 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,355% compared to the average volume of 6,257 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

K has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Kellanova from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Kellanova from $76.00 to $83.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Argus downgraded Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut Kellanova from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $83.50 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Kellanova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $83.50 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.35.

Kellanova Stock Performance

Shares of K traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $81.18. 160,975 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,988,999. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. Kellanova has a 52 week low of $51.02 and a 52 week high of $81.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.19. The firm has a market cap of $27.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Kellanova Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Kellanova’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 114,583 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.65, for a total value of $9,241,118.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,368,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,062,201,136.80. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,031,247 shares of company stock valued at $83,211,320 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kellanova

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of K. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kellanova by 5.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,725,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,489,000 after buying an additional 731,273 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kellanova by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,725,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $541,052,000 after acquiring an additional 196,564 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP boosted its position in shares of Kellanova by 0.5% in the second quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 2,141,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,546,000 after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Kellanova by 766.5% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,881,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,664,461 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.87% of the company’s stock.

Kellanova Company Profile

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.