Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 293,694 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,601,292 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 293,694 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.46% of Kraft Heinz worth $172,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KHC. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth about $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,702,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,897,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $32.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.85 and a 200 day moving average of $32.31. The company has a market cap of $38.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 70.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on KHC shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

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.