Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Buys New Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,107,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,450,000 after purchasing an additional 189,000 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 9.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,061,000 after buying an additional 799,581 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 83.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,709,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,388,000 after buying an additional 3,961,872 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,379,000 after buying an additional 1,778,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 14.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,912,000 after acquiring an additional 505,180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 1.1 %

KHC opened at $31.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.53. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 52 week low of $31.58 and a 52 week high of $38.96. The stock has a market cap of $38.44 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.49.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Kraft Heinz’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kraft Heinz news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total value of $1,505,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KHC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

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.