HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 72,560 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,712 shares of the company’s stock after selling 72,560 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $7,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter valued at $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,601,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,016,000 after purchasing an additional 293,694 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $30.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.06. The stock has a market cap of $36.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $27.25 and a 52 week high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.22%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KHC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz 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.