Amundi Sells 2,045,704 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Amundi decreased its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 19.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,527,829 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,045,704 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.71% of Kraft Heinz worth $252,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position 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 valued at $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,601,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,016,000 after purchasing an additional 293,694 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

KHC stock opened at $32.18 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1 year low of $27.25 and a 1 year high of $38.96. The company has a market cap of $38.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.85 and a 200 day moving average of $32.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.80%.

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.