CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Reduces Stock Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lowered its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 18.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 798,650 shares of the company’s stock after selling 179,854 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.07% of Kraft Heinz worth $29,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,098,000. Shell Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 251.3% in the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 33,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 24,199 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 137,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,079,000 after acquiring an additional 75,149 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,661,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,450,000 after acquiring an additional 118,260 shares during the period. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $7,743,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on KHC shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.83.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC traded up $0.14 on Thursday, reaching $33.19. 3,454,037 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,874,445. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.57 and a 200-day moving average of $35.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $40.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.53. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $30.68 and a 1-year high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 69.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In other news, insider Lande Rashida La sold 10,140 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total transaction of $364,533.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 158,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,689,662.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.