Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 25,567 Shares of Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 71.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 61,243 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 25,567 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 89.7% during the 2nd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 90,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after buying an additional 42,758 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 192.4% in the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 81,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 53,467 shares in the last quarter. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can grew its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 45.4% in the second quarter. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can now owns 4,884,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,000 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 39.8% during the second quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 37,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 10,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter valued at $4,678,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Miguel Patricio sold 125,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.82, for a total value of $3,102,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 686,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,046,797.94. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KHC shares. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $28.00 to $25.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $26.37.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $23.76 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $24.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.77. Kraft Heinz Company has a 52-week low of $22.91 and a 52-week high of $33.35. The company has a market cap of $28.12 billion, a PE ratio of -6.37 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.04. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 17.35% and a positive return on equity of 7.26%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.57 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.90%.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The combination created one of the largest packaged-food companies in the world, built around well-known consumer brands. The merger was supported by major investors and established a multi-national platform for branded food products.

Kraft Heinz develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded packaged foods and condiments.