Adams Asset Advisors LLC Increases Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Adams Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 316,577 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,974 shares during the period. Kraft Heinz accounts for about 1.2% of Adams Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Adams Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $9,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,379,000 after buying an additional 1,778,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 buying an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.58.

Insider Activity

In other Kraft Heinz news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 1.5 %

KHC traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $28.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,998,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,835,177. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.23 and its 200-day moving average is $33.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $35.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.48. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $28.48 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.14%.

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.