Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 214,500 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Gabelli Funds LLC lessened its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 592,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 214,500 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $18,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,779,524,000 after purchasing an additional 14,996,486 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $324,857,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,858,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,777,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403,220 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth $39,339,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KHC. Mizuho cut Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $29.42 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $35.11 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.18. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 10.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is currently 70.80%.

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.