Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 39,471 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 435,102 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,471 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $13,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth about $411,304,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,139.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,273,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,814 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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 $28.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $29.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.77. The company has a market cap of $34.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $27.25 and a twelve month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. On average, analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.80%.

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.