D.A. Davidson & CO. Cuts Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 67,290 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,198 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $2,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 39,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,916 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 13,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,399,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,081,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,960,000 after acquiring an additional 474,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,768,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,478,000 after acquiring an additional 247,896 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Kraft Heinz from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.08.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

KHC traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.85. 5,700,622 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,366,014. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.65. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $30.68 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.18.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.43 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 10.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 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, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 69.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In other news, insider Lande Rashida La sold 10,140 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total transaction of $364,533.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 158,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,689,662.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.