LGT Group Foundation Lowers Stock Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

LGT Group Foundation reduced its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 58.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,235 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,074 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KHC. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 11,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,881 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 26.3% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 314,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,057,000 after acquiring an additional 65,672 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 218.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 122,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,355,000 after acquiring an additional 84,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 6.2% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,874,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,822,000 after acquiring an additional 109,777 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on KHC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $31.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.37. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $27.25 and a twelve month high of $38.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.80%.

Kraft Heinz 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.