Empower Advisory Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz Company by 10.4%, acquiring 211,671 additional shares, bringing its total holdings to over 2.2 million shares valued at approximately $68.4 million.
• Kraft Heinz announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, yielding 6.0%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 29th.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a profit of $0.69 per share against an estimated $0.64, with year-over-year revenue declining by 1.9% to $6.35 billion.

Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,248,858 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 211,671 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Kraft Heinz worth $68,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 141.7% in the 1st quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,141 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 1,157.0% in the first quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 1,257 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on KHC. Cfra Research lowered Kraft Heinz from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised Kraft Heinz to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. DZ Bank lowered Kraft Heinz from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Kraft Heinz from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.35.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $27.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,889,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,858,400. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.91 and a 200 day moving average of $28.48. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $25.44 and a 12-month high of $36.53. The stock has a market cap of $32.73 billion, a PE ratio of -6.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.23.

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

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -35.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.