Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 836 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 60,653 shares of the company’s stock after selling 836 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,350,000 after purchasing an additional 545,504 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position 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 valued at $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 58,665 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 229.8% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 342,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,530,000 after purchasing an additional 238,913 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 44,485 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 12.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 487,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,132,000 after purchasing an additional 54,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $31.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The Kraft Heinz Company has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.14%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.80%.

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.