Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Increases Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 15.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 673,136 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 89,245 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.06% of Kraft Heinz worth $21,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. TCW Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at $1,098,000. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 251.3% during the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 33,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 24,199 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 137,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,079,000 after acquiring an additional 75,149 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,661,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,450,000 after acquiring an additional 118,260 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 13.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,053,000 after acquiring an additional 234,783 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kraft Heinz news, insider Cory Onell sold 4,076 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $146,736.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 143,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,182,920. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on KHC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.45.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $34.96 on Monday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $30.68 and a 12-month high of $38.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.80 and a 200 day moving average of $35.04.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 7.30%. Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

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.