Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 195,486 Shares of Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 7.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,899,230 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 195,486 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $74,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 12.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,980,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,103,277,000 after acquiring an additional 11,472,071 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 22.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 10,480,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895,722 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,171,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,665,000 after acquiring an additional 103,548 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.1% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,820,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,300,000 after acquiring an additional 778,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 4,390.7% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,444,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,523,000 after buying an additional 7,278,295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on KHC shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, October 16th. DZ Bank upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $28.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $28.65.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

KHC opened at $25.25 on Monday. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $24.80 and a 12-month high of $35.17. The stock has a market cap of $29.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.62, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.33 and a 200-day moving average of $27.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 8th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Kraft Heinz had a positive return on equity of 7.40% and a negative net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $6.39 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -35.63%.

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.