Sentry Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after buying 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 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after buying an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter valued at $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in 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. boosted its position in 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 valued at $186,350,000 after buying an additional 545,504 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

KHC stock opened at $30.58 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $36.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $27.25 and a 1-year high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 70.80%.

Kraft Heinz Company 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.