Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 6,037,735 Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 6.04 million Kraft Heinz shares worth approximately $142.6 million, giving it a 0.51% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 78.17% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with Kraft Heinz receiving a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $23.62; ratings include one Strong Buy, 12 Holds and five Sells.
• Kraft Heinz beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.56 in EPS and $6.26 billion in revenue, but sales declined 1.4% year over year. The company declared a $0.40 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 6.4% annualized yield.

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,037,735 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $142,611,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.51% of Kraft Heinz at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KHC. Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore set a $24.00 target price on Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Kraft Heinz from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Kraft Heinz from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $23.62.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $25.13 on Friday. Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $28.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $29.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 0.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.91.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 13.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.10%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Kraft Heinz's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.030-2.090 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Kraft Heinz's payout ratio is -55.94%.

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $426,471.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 102,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,474.35. This represents a 15.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

The Kraft Heinz Company NASDAQ: KHC is a global food and beverage company formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The combination created one of the largest packaged-food companies in the world, built around well-known consumer brands. The merger was supported by major investors and established a multi-national platform for branded food products.

Kraft Heinz develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded packaged foods and condiments.

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