Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 94,871 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 29.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 420,974 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,871 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $12,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter worth $411,304,000. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake 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 worth $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 worth $39,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho cut Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of KHC opened at $31.13 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.73 and its 200 day moving average is $32.54. The company has a market capitalization of $37.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $38.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.80%.

Kraft Heinz Company 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.