Moors & Cabot Inc. Reduces Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Moors & Cabot Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 54,893 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,378 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.55.

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC opened at $30.88 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $37.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.32. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $30.40 and a 12-month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.18%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.