South Dakota Investment Council Raises Stock Position in Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 488.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 260,083 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 215,910 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $6,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,435,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,644,890,000 after buying an additional 454,868 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,376,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,197,438,000 after acquiring an additional 462,963 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 3,392,470 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,584,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $454,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 75.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $24.89.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $24.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $24.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.03. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $21.99 and a 12 month high of $33.35. The firm has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.90 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is -32.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cory Onell sold 9,045 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.61, for a total transaction of $222,597.45. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 202,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,982,392.94. The trade was a 4.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $3,102,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 686,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,046,797.94. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 139,036 shares of company stock worth $3,446,578. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

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.