Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Increases Position in Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 231,646 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 33,452 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $5,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter worth $1,803,911,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3,034.1% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 16,477,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,957,000 after acquiring an additional 15,951,271 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $332,382,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 2nd quarter worth $179,876,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 2nd quarter worth $170,097,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kraft Heinz

In other news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $426,471.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,366,474.35. This trade represents a 15.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock opened at $25.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.99 and a beta of 0.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.93. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $21.03 and a 12 month high of $28.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.03. Kraft Heinz had a positive return on equity of 7.10% and a negative net margin of 13.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.030-2.090 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is -55.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on KHC. UBS Group upped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Kraft Heinz from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.62.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The combination created one of the largest packaged-food companies in the world, built around well-known consumer brands. The merger was supported by major investors and established a multi-national platform for branded food products.

Kraft Heinz develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded packaged foods and condiments.