Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 37.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 147,933 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,289 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $4,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KHC. Sawyer & Company Inc acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 191.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ KHC opened at $30.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $36.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $27.25 and a 52-week high of $38.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is currently 70.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KHC shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho downgraded Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.73.

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.