National Pension Service Grows Holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

National Pension Service grew its stake in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,954,221 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 165,986 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.17% of Kraft Heinz worth $59,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake 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 buying an additional 10,272 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 6,551 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 buying an additional 103,548 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 3,468 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 8,144 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Mizuho set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eighteen have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $1,116,400. The trade was a 38.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $27.65 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.42. Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $25.44 and a twelve month high of $36.53. The company has a market capitalization of $32.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.23.

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

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Kraft Heinz's payout ratio is currently -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.

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