Metis Global Partners LLC Grows Holdings in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,344 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,999 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter valued at about $411,304,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $186,350,000 after acquiring an additional 545,504 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ KHC opened at $31.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.47. The Kraft Heinz Company has a fifty-two week low of $27.25 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.80%.

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.