Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 4,817 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 175,707 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,817 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $6,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,215,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,362,053,000 after acquiring an additional 417,115 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,080 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,580,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,216,000 after purchasing an additional 850,326 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,263,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,621,000 after buying an additional 1,977,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,120,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,797,000 after buying an additional 324,450 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KHC shares. Citigroup initiated coverage on Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.50.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock opened at $36.35 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1 year low of $30.68 and a 1 year high of $41.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.75.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.43 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 10.62%. Kraft Heinz’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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.