The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Stake Increased by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 229,611 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,304 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $8,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares in the last quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 21.4% during the second quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 454,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,656,000 after purchasing an additional 80,101 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 52.5% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 170,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 58,665 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 39.4% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 157,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,529,000 after purchasing an additional 44,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,760.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 655,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,008,000 after purchasing an additional 620,096 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KHC shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.55.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $31.97 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1 year low of $30.40 and a 1 year high of $38.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.77 and a 200-day moving average of $34.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 144.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.