Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Boosts Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,118 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,112 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 39,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,916 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth about $5,399,000. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 13,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,768,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,478,000 after acquiring an additional 247,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 457,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,934,000 after purchasing an additional 136,556 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock traded up $0.50 on Wednesday, hitting $38.57. The company had a trading volume of 7,231,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,083,533. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $46.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.67. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $30.68 and a 52 week high of $41.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KHC. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.57.

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.