Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Sells 46,300 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 62.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,098 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,300 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 2.4% in the third quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 12,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 10,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 4.2% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 9,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on KHC shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total value of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC traded down $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $28.70. 560,192 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,037,594. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.48. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $28.37 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.29.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 144.14%.

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.