KLCM Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

KLCM Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 88.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,311 shares of the company’s stock after selling 66,550 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,139.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,273,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,814 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $28.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.73. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. On average, analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders 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 yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.86.

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.