Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 238,913 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 229.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 342,880 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 238,913 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $10,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 12,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 6,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 10,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 9,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Thornton Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 20,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $727,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was 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 owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. This trade represents a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ KHC opened at $28.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $34.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.31. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $28.48 and a 1-year high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is presently 144.14%.

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.