LPL Financial LLC Buys 50,040 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 655,747 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,040 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $20,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 229.8% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 342,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,530,000 after acquiring an additional 238,913 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 12.6% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 487,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,132,000 after purchasing an additional 54,656 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth 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. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 121.0% in the fourth quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 18,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 10,214 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 511.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 35,725 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

KHC opened at $30.43 on Tuesday. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1 year low of $27.25 and a 1 year high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $36.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.65.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 70.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.73.

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.