Banco Santander S.A. Increases Stock Position in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in Kraft Heinz Company by 17.1% during the first quarter, owning 357,005 shares valued at approximately $10.86 million.
• Kraft Heinz reported earnings of $0.69 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but also saw a 1.9% decline in year-over-year revenue.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.40 on September 26th, representing an annual yield of 5.8% on its stock.

Banco Santander S.A. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 357,005 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 52,101 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $10,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KHC. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 493.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 12,354 shares of the company's stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 90,252 shares of the company's stock worth $2,746,000 after acquiring an additional 6,551 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,171,720 shares of the company's stock worth $248,665,000 after acquiring an additional 103,548 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 28.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the company's stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 3,468 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 58.3% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 22,111 shares of the company's stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 8,144 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DZ Bank cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Kraft Heinz from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.35.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 1.5%

Kraft Heinz stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,105,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,471,558. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $32.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.51. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $25.44 and a 12 month high of $36.53.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 20.83% and a positive return on equity of 7.40%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio is presently -35.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kraft Heinz news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $697,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 40,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,116,400. This represents a 38.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.