Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Purchases 15,469 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 27.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 71,163 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 15,469 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 96.4% in 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter valued at $39,339,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on KHC. Citigroup cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of KHC stock opened at $29.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $27.25 and a twelve month high of $38.96. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.01.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.35%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend 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.