Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 23.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 52,628 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,833 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,263 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 260.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,169,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,686,000 after purchasing an additional 845,490 shares during the last quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,353,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,061,000 after acquiring an additional 799,581 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Kraft Heinz during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,298,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KHC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $31.93 on Friday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $30.40 and a 52-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. The stock has a market cap of $38.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.16.

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

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.14%.

Kraft Heinz Company 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.