Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 538,070 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 55,901 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $19,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 1,835.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,527,499 shares of the company's stock valued at $794,964,000 after purchasing an additional 18,518,584 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 96.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,312,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $524,360,000 after buying an additional 6,537,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth approximately $252,224,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 10.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company's stock worth $827,581,000 after buying an additional 2,369,080 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,627,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $155,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,140,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KHC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.71.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $36.59. 8,694,414 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,170,958. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $30.68 and a 52-week high of $41.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.67. The company's 50 day moving average price is $35.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.30.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.26%.

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.