The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Shares Acquired by Smith Thornton Advisors LLC

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,718 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Keynote Financial Services LLC raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 25,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,097,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,519,000 after purchasing an additional 138,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Poplar Forest Capital LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 9.9% in the third quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC now owns 898,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,550,000 after purchasing an additional 80,705 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.25.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ KHC opened at $32.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.74. The company has a market capitalization of $39.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.49. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $31.58 and a 1-year high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The business had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.14%.

About Kraft Heinz

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.