Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Kraft Heinz Company by 4.3% during the first quarter, now holding 387,311 shares valued at approximately $11.8 million.
• Several institutional investors have moved in and out of Kraft Heinz, with 78.17% of the stock owned by hedge funds and institutions, highlighting a trend of increased interest among these investors.
• Kraft Heinz recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.69, beating estimates, while announcing a $0.40 quarterly dividend scheduled for September 26.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 387,311 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,996 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $11,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz during the first quarter worth $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV grew its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 141.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,157 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KHC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. DZ Bank downgraded 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. UBS Group raised their price target on Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $30.35.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:KHC traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $27.67. 8,133,610 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,392,902. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $27.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.40. Kraft Heinz Company has a one year low of $25.44 and a one year high of $36.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.23.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

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 transaction of $697,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,116,400. This represents a 38.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company 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.