State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 303,166 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,082 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $9,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 143.4% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 245,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,620,000 after purchasing an additional 144,646 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 18,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 157.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 5,750 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 109.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,114,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,147,000 after acquiring an additional 582,219 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth approximately $101,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC stock opened at $29.32 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.67. The company has a market cap of $35.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect 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 paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KHC. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of 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, Citigroup downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.