First Eagle Investment Management LLC Sells 1,236,400 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,130,138 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,236,400 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.42% of Kraft Heinz worth $157,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter worth $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after buying an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,601,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,016,000 after buying an additional 293,694 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho lowered Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $30.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.18. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $27.25 and a twelve month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS 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. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.30%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.