New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,092,628 shares of the company’s stock after selling 99,436 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of Kraft Heinz worth $40,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 326.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 1.3 %

KHC stock opened at $38.57 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $30.68 and a 52-week high of $41.47. The firm has a market cap of $46.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on KHC. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.57.

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.