Costello Asset Management INC Raises Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Costello Asset Management INC grew its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,869 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth about $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Kraft Heinz by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KHC. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.07.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock opened at $29.84 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $28.37 and a twelve month high of $38.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50 day moving average is $30.41 and its 200 day moving average is $33.03. The company has a market cap of $36.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.48.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 EPS for the current year.

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.