Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Trims Stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 731,671 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,120 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.06% of Kraft Heinz worth $22,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,524,000 after purchasing an additional 14,996,486 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz during the third quarter valued at $411,304,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KHC. Mizuho downgraded Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Monday. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.73.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 1.3 %

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $30.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.97 and a 200 day moving average of $31.78. The Kraft Heinz Company has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $38.96.

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

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.