Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $4.17 Million Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $4,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 52.5% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 170,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 58,665 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 229.8% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 342,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,530,000 after purchasing an additional 238,913 shares in the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 157,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,529,000 after buying an additional 44,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 487,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,132,000 after buying an additional 54,656 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of KHC opened at $28.62 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.06. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $27.25 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The firm has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho cut shares of Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.36.

About Kraft Heinz

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.