Blueshift Asset Management LLC Takes $600,000 Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 19,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sawyer & Company Inc acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Generali Investments Management Co LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 191.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on KHC. Citigroup lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho cut Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $29.71 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $27.25 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.00.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 70.80%.

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.