Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 3,058 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,963 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,058 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $2,477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,215,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,362,053,000 after acquiring an additional 417,115 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,580,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,216,000 after purchasing an additional 850,326 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,120,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,797,000 after buying an additional 324,450 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Kraft Heinz by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,970,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,474,000 after buying an additional 85,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 86.0% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,627,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,671,000 after buying an additional 2,140,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KHC. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

KHC opened at $32.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.19. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $30.68 and a 52-week high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.43 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lande Rashida La sold 10,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $364,533.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 158,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,689,662.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.