Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 56,782 Shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 523,744 shares of the company's stock after selling 56,782 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $15,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 14,996,486 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,745,734 shares of the company's stock worth $604,644,000 after purchasing an additional 595,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter worth approximately $324,857,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,289,691 shares of the company's stock worth $285,286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,585,167 shares of the company's stock valued at $263,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,516 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KHC shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (down from $28.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Cfra Research downgraded Kraft Heinz from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Kraft Heinz from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kraft Heinz from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.47.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC traded up $0.23 during trading on Monday, reaching $25.84. 15,585,945 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,930,528. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.27. Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $25.44 and a 52-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 company has a 50-day moving average of $27.30 and a 200-day moving average of $29.00.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 10.44%. The company had revenue of $6 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.06%.

Kraft Heinz 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.