GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,080 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,627,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,671,000 after buying an additional 2,140,153 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,263,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,621,000 after buying an additional 1,977,571 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 3,167.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,869,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,198,000 after buying an additional 1,812,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,580,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,216,000 after buying an additional 850,326 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KHC. Bank of America lifted their price target on Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Kraft Heinz in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.57.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

KHC opened at $38.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.55. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $30.68 and a 1-year high of $41.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.42% and a net margin of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.26%.

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.