KBC Group NV Decreases Stock Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

KBC Group NV lessened its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 55.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,573 shares of the company’s stock after selling 278,398 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $6,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after buying an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,821,000 after buying an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after buying an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,139.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,273,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on KHC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.43.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock opened at $30.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.48. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $28.37 and a twelve 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.07.

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

Insider Activity at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.