Empowered Funds LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 70.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,321 shares of the company’s stock after selling 199,684 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $2,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KHC. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the first quarter worth $325,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 44,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,031 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 1st quarter worth about $439,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 359.9% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 37,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 29,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 2,914 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,505,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. This trade represents a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $30.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.34. The firm has a market cap of $36.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.49. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $30.40 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.23%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 144.14%.

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.