Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 46,037 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,916 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Clifford Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 21.4% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,053,000 after buying an additional 234,783 shares during the period. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter worth about $654,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 39.4% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 157,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,529,000 after buying an additional 44,485 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,001,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total value of $1,505,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $33.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.69. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $31.58 and a twelve month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. Kraft Heinz’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.14%.

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.