MAI Capital Management Sells 3,163 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

MAI Capital Management lowered its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,742 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,163 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $2,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 83.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,709,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,961,872 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the second 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 period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Poplar Forest Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,353,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,061,000 after buying an additional 799,581 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kraft Heinz

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on KHC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued 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.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $30.88 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.32. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $30.40 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The company has a market capitalization of $37.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.