Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Raises Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,857 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,215,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,362,053,000 after purchasing an additional 417,115 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,369,080 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,580,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,216,000 after buying an additional 850,326 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,977,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,120,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,797,000 after acquiring an additional 324,450 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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 reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.57.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock traded down $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $38.07. The company had a trading volume of 5,856,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,094,511. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $30.68 and a 52 week high of $41.47. The company has a market cap of $46.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 69.26%.

Kraft Heinz Company 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.