Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 3,322 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,459 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,322 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 126,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,516 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at about $721,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 137.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 129,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,975,000 after purchasing an additional 74,910 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 55,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 2,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennondale Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KHC. UBS Group dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho cut Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $38.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Trading Down 0.6 %

KHC opened at $29.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $29.92 and a 200-day moving average of $31.93. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $27.25 and a 52 week high of $38.96.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 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%. Equities research analysts predict that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is presently 70.80%.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

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.