Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KHC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,835.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,527,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,964,000 after purchasing an additional 18,518,584 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 96.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,312,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,360,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth about $252,224,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 86.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,627,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,140,153 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KHC has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup initiated coverage on Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.57.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Kraft Heinz stock traded up $0.67 on Friday, reaching $37.78. 9,117,591 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,138,727. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $30.68 and a 1-year high of $41.47. The company has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.37.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.42% and a net margin of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

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.