West Tower Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

West Tower Group LLC lifted its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 80.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,500 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth about $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,601,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,016,000 after purchasing an additional 293,694 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 0.9 %

KHC opened at $30.39 on Wednesday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $38.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. Analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.