Cooke & Bieler LP Boosts Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 29.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,317,894 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 983,632 shares during the period. Kraft Heinz accounts for 1.3% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $132,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sawyer & Company Inc bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 191.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock opened at $32.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.24. The company has a market capitalization of $38.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $27.25 and a 52 week high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date 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.