The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Holdings Raised by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 42.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 457,923 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 136,556 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $16,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KHC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 1,835.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,527,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,964,000 after acquiring an additional 18,518,584 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 96.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,312,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,360,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter worth about $252,224,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,627,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,140,153 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KHC. Citigroup began coverage on Kraft Heinz in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.57.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $35.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $43.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.28. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $30.68 and a 52 week high of $41.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.42% and a net margin of 10.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 69.26%.

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.