Arizona State Retirement System Acquires 10,347 Shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 266,145 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,347 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $8,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KHC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company's stock worth $2,779,524,000 after acquiring an additional 14,996,486 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth approximately $324,857,000. Southeastern Asset Management Inc. TN acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,080,000. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 341.9% during the 4th quarter. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can now owns 3,314,000 shares of the company's stock worth $101,773,000 after purchasing an additional 2,564,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Criteria Caixa S.A.U. acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,316,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KHC. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $27.00 price objective (down from $28.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cfra Research cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Mizuho set a $29.00 price target on shares of Kraft Heinz and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.29.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of KHC traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $28.13. 17,562,134 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,615,604. Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $25.44 and a fifty-two week high of $36.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.68 and a 200-day moving average of $28.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.25.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $6 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.02 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.37%. Kraft Heinz's revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.06%.

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.