Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Kraft Heinz Call Options (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 83,191 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 165% compared to the typical daily volume of 31,365 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore set a $24.00 price target on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $426,471.10. Following the transaction, the insider owned 102,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,366,474.35. This represents a 15.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,803,911,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 2,805.5% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 38,073,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $899,289,000 after purchasing an additional 36,762,849 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 3,034.1% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 16,477,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,957,000 after purchasing an additional 15,951,271 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at about $332,382,000. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter valued at about $181,408,000. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of KHC stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $24.38. The company had a trading volume of 6,722,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,288,333. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Kraft Heinz has a 52 week low of $21.03 and a 52 week high of $28.09.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 13.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.10%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.030-2.090 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Kraft Heinz will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is -55.94%.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company that develops, manufactures and markets branded products for consumers, retailers, foodservice operators and other customers. Its portfolio includes condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, beverages, snacks and other packaged foods.

The company’s well-known brands include Kraft, Heinz, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Velveeta, Lunchables, Capri Sun, Jell-O, Maxwell House and Classico, among others.