HM Payson & Co. Trims Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

HM Payson & Co. lowered its holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,069 shares of the company’s stock after selling 562 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $64,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 14.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,097,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,519,000 after acquiring an additional 138,101 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 97,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 10.6% during the third quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 36.3% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 41,959 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after buying an additional 11,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on KHC shares. Bank of America cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $32.18 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $38.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $29.85 and a 200 day moving average of $32.27.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.