Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Boosts Stock Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 2.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,132 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 83.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,709,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,961,872 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,263 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 260.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,169,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,686,000 after purchasing an additional 845,490 shares in the last quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,353,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 9.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,061,000 after buying an additional 799,581 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. This trade represents a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KHC. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $31.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $37.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.49. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $30.40 and a 52-week high of $38.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The business had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.14%.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, and other grocery products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Golden Circle, Wattie's, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands.