Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 330,117 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 71.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 133,619 shares of the company’s stock after selling 330,117 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $4,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter valued at about $263,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 9.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 544,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,122,000 after acquiring an additional 46,740 shares in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 1,460.8% in the third quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 98,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,455,000 after acquiring an additional 92,090 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 78.0% during the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 14,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 6,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 84,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,965,000 after purchasing an additional 13,528 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on KHC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.55.

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC opened at $31.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.95 and a 200 day moving average of $34.19. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.49. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $30.40 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s 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.