Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires Shares of 125,746 Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 125,746 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,826,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,048,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 493.4% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 12,354 shares of the company's stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 10,272 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 7.8% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 90,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 6,551 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,171,720 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,665,000 after purchasing an additional 103,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 28.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the company's stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $27.00 price target (down previously from $28.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Kraft Heinz from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $34.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. DZ Bank downgraded Kraft Heinz from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Kraft Heinz from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.35.

Insider Activity

In other Kraft Heinz news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $697,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 40,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,116,400. This trade represents a 38.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

KHC stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.41. The stock had a trading volume of 16,933,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,534,841. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.25. Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $25.44 and a 52 week high of $36.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -35.63%.

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.