King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Stock Position in Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 492,632 shares of the company’s stock after selling 182,463 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $12,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KHC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the second quarter valued at $276,159,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 75.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 13,694,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,873,967 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 14.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,446,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,663,000 after buying an additional 3,392,470 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 1,645.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,880,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,549,000 after buying an additional 1,772,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 45.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can now owns 4,884,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,056,000 after buying an additional 1,525,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.2%

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $23.99 on Friday. Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $21.99 and a 52-week high of $33.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.86 and a beta of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.23.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 23.44%.The company had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -32.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KHC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $24.00 to $22.00 in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In related news, insider Miguel Patricio sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.82, for a total value of $3,102,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 686,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,046,797.94. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.