Pacer Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 77.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 558,149 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $5,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 52.5% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 170,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 58,665 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 229.8% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 342,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,530,000 after purchasing an additional 238,913 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 39.4% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 157,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,529,000 after buying an additional 44,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 487,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,132,000 after buying an additional 54,656 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $30.27 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.07. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $28.37 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.60 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Kraft Heinz’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KHC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

About Kraft Heinz

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.