Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 39,471 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 435,102 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,471 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $13,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after buying an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,821,000 after buying an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter worth $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after buying an additional 1,238,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,350,000 after buying an additional 545,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of KHC stock opened at $28.92 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.94 and a 200-day moving average of $32.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $38.96. The firm has a market cap of $34.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 70.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.86.

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.