122,860 Shares in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Purchased by Eliot Finkel Investment Counsel LLC

Eliot Finkel Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 122,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,773,000. Kraft Heinz makes up approximately 2.4% of Eliot Finkel Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 1,139.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,273,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,814 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on KHC. Mizuho downgraded Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $30.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.06. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $27.25 and a 52 week high of $38.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.77 and a 200-day moving average of $32.41.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.21%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.80%.

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.