Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $212,000 Position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,889 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KHC. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter worth $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,307,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KHC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.2 %

KHC opened at $30.72 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $27.25 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is currently 70.80%.

Kraft Heinz 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.